Jewish Currents editorial about southern synagogue bombings

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Vol. 12" N,,. l,(131)April, 195[l Lot' rs ILrn.l p S r rr l)r.:rzrunn Monnrs [J. S cnepprs Editor EDITORIAL BOARI)

By MORRIS CONTENTS THn

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Issuns AND EvnNrs

CoNvnnsa'rroNs

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Isnenr-rs

llerNsorvs KNow No Bononn Mrorcel

A[orris U. Schuppes

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Rachel Hirshkon-Miller

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Pnocnnss IN Isnan

Ir Heppnxpp IN Isnenr,

L. H.

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Isnanr- For,r l\,{usrc: A Sr:r,ncrrou

D. P.

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Dr. A. Berntcul

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Poent by l,lochcnt Yud

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S. P.

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A/L U. S.

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Rtdh, Zalman,

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Sarn Perzner

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Frank Cantor

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Frvn PonrRArrs or Cgerro

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Sorvc oF TFrETnurns INsrnn rHa jnwrsn CornuruNrry Tnn EorroR's I)renv PensNrs' ConNsn: ON Passovnn Brocnepny oF A Tnrerpn Two Isnasr, Novnr.s A Nrw Fnr,r oN THE Dnryrus Cesn Lnrrrns

Duoid. Plott

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J E ' $ v l s HC u n n B N r s , A p r i l , 1 9 5 8 . Y o | . 7 2 , N o . 4 ( 1 3 1 ) . P u b l i s h e d m o n t h l y e x c e p t J u l y a n d A u g u s t . when bi-monthly, by Jewish Currents, Inc., Room 601 ,22 Easr 17 Srreet, New York 3, N. Y . , W A t k i r r s 4-5740. Single copies 3) cents. Subscription $3 a year in U.S. and possessions.Canadian a n d f o r e i g r r , $1.)O a year. Entered as second class matter October 15, 1946, at rhe post .-rfficeat New Y o r k , N . Y . .

20e under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright 1958 by Jewish Currents, Int.

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Bombingsr USA . Labor Vietories o The Seeond f)eeade o Polish Jewry

USA BoMBlltGS,

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Poem by Genu Soltes

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SCHAPPES

Nashville schools, "would be shot down in cold blood."

Haskell Lazare of Miami, Southeastern director, American Jewish Congress, called on the Governor to investigate the outrage. Nate Perlmutter, Miami director, Anti-Defamation League, announced ADL had evidence for the FBI linking the Miami blasts with recent bombings in Castonia and Charlotte, N. C. The Jewish War Veterans asked U.S. Attorney General William F. Rogers for a federal-state drive against "terrorist activities."

In Memphis, NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins told his local chapter on March 21 that the dynamiters "were

months local, state and fedk=rOR 'reral law enforcement agencies have allowed to go unpunished Southern dynamitings of Neglo homes and- churches and even of schools and the general fouting of the Supreme Court decision on school integration. Emboldened, the racists turned to new violence against Jewish communities, known to be openly or guardedly in favo,r of the Supreme Court ruling.

Before dawn on March 16, Nfiami Temple Beth El was dynamited. The blast "tore a gaping hole in the concrete rear wall . . . blew out doors, lifted the roof and shifted walls made bold by groups of so-called from their foundations" (New .York respectable people which have urged Times, N{arch L7 ). In Nashville publicly that the courts be defied" (fewish population about 2,700), and hoped, Tennessee Negroes "contribute to the rebuilding 'the Jewish Community Center was would jewish of the center." dynamited t8 hours later. Rabbi William B. Silverman was told that More is needed than finding the the Temple would be next and that criminals and rebuilding the cenFederal Judge William E. Miller', ters. Full eniorcernent of the school who hacl ordered integration of desegregationorders in Miami, NashApnn. 1958

3 .,4

ville and throughout the South is t l r t ' r r r r i o r r l t ' i r < l e r sc a l l e d a s t r i k e , -l'lrt' the only effective reply. r'('spons(.was a model of soli'l'lrr.

Nor can the North be complacent. rlaritv.

15,000 veteran Jewish Early in March, in the Beth Abrar- workt'r's lt.lrrrecl, some with surprise, ham Cemetery near East Brunswick, that tht. tcns of thousands of Italiari, N. I. (about 5,000 Jews live in the \cgro, Ptrert<t Rican, Slavic and Brunswicks ), 158 tombstones were rltltcr workcrs, for most of whom this spray-painted with swastikas ancl was their first strike, were active, others with Hitler's salute "Heil." clisciplined, determined.

95 per cent of all the tombs being The three-year agreement includes thus desecrated. The area is not far real gains: increases in wages and from respectable Princeton Univer- fringe benefits totaling 11 per cent; sity, at which "eating clubs" are overtime pay and paid holidays for openly permitted to assert the "right" piece workers, 81 per cent of the into exclude |ews. All over the country dustry; a severance pay fund for the fight against discrimination can workers when employers go out of be stepped up. In New York the business. But one big question relaw against housing discrimination mains: enforcement. "Contract Engoes into effect April 1. Every alert forcement Is the Key Issue," headdemocratic citizen can make it his lined the New York Post, Feb. 28. personal business in his own build- Workers and employers know that ing to help enforce the law. Wide- previous contract gains were dissispread public zeal in the fight for pated for lack of enforcement by the 'equality for all peoples can answer union. Enforcement is the main and stop bombings and desecrations, issue in every shop and local.

Another victory was won by 7,500 fur workers in New York. Fully prepared to strike, the Furriers Joint the recession and much Council signed a three-year agree[IESPITE u unemployment in the industry, ment March 5 for about an 11-12 per 105,000 women's garment workers in cent increase in wages and fringe seven Eastern states waged a suc- beneffts and important increases in cessful strike March 5 to 12. The minimum wage scales: for cutters ILGWU boasted record of no strikes from $90 to $120; operators from $77 for 25 years had permitted emPloY- to $112, nailers from $71 to, $107 ers to cut wages so that theY ranked and finishers from $64 to 90. About 18th among 25 maior New York in- 1,650 workers will immediately guin dustries and other working condi- from $6 to $30 weekly from the riscr tions were subnormal. Feeling the in minimum scales.

These victorious struggles ale in seething discontent of the workers,

YIGTORIES LABOR

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]nwrsn Cunnslrrs

line with the AFL-CIO official policy of making increased purchasing p()wer the key to ffghting the recession. Unemployrnent is still increasing and in February was 5,173,000.

Yet on March 8 only 3,274,800 were receiving unemployment insurance.

Thus 1,898,2,00workers had no social cushion against hunger and despair.

At the sarrre time, consumer prices, headed by food, increased by 0.2 per cent (New York Tirnes, March

security within their present frontiers, full democratic equality for the fuabs in Israel, an economy more and more independent of foreign aid, and peace with the Arab states.

Of the achievements there is room to note only a few key symbols. In ten years there has been a trebling of gross industrial production-and of the number of pupils in schools.

The average output per worker in22). creased by almost 50 per cent. The The AFL-CIO Washington con- population has more than doubled, ference March 1l-13 produced a mostly by the abso,rption of about minimal anti-recession program call- 900,000 new immigrants, a sum larging for tax cuts on low incomes, in- er than the original Jewish populacrease in unemployment benefits, a tion. This feat is unprecedented. really extensive public works pro- True. Israeli Labor Minister M. Nagram of housing, schools, hospitals, mir has just indicated that there are roads, park and cheap power devel- still 46 immigration camps (maabaopments, improved social security rot) in which some 20,000 families provisions and increased minimum live in utter wretchedness. And unwage coverage. Only massive labor doubtedly there are other inequities, and public pressure can make the crudities and stupidities in dealing politicians of both parties take this even with better integrated immiprogram seriously. grants. But these defects need to be seen in relation to' the overall immigration achievement.

On this anniversary it is also unA S the State of Israel enters its fortunately still necessary to declare A that Israel is a legitimate state and year on April 24 (He' "l",u"nth brew calendar), the Jewish people is here to stay. Confusion is still reioice and applaud the valiant peo- caused by the belief that Israel is ple of Israel for their achievements an illegitimate intruder in the Middle , despite extraordinary difficulties and East, spawned by imperialism out serious handicaps, natural as well as of the loins of Zionism. This picman-made. We wish for them in ture is false and harmful to the prostheir second decade the wisdom and pects for peace in the Middle East. maturity that can help them attain The State of Israel is not the off-

DECADE THESEGO]ID

Arnn,

1958

spring of the imperialist Balfour Declaration.

Whatever the siturttion may have been before the issue came to the United Nations, it was the democratic, anti-imperialist and socialist forces in the UN that on November 29, 1947 passed the resolutio,n that provides the international democratic sanction for the birth of Israel.

The conflict of imperial interests between Britain and the USA in the Middle East enabled this coalition of progressive forces to defeat the tactics of the imperialists. Zionists play into the hands of Arab propagandists when they falsely credit Truman and the USA with passage of the UN resolution. In The Birth of lsrael, the Guatemalan Dr. Jorge Garcia-Granados, member of the UN Special Committee on Palestine, sums it up thus: "Partition was not voted under pressure of the United States. It was voted because of the tireless efforts of those in the United Nations and in the world who believed in its iustice and historic necessity."

Chief among these was the Soviet Union. David Horowitz, who was involved in the UN negotiations as a fewish Agency liaison officer, in State in the Nlaking pays tribute to the Russians' "obstinate espousal of o,ur cause at every stage and in every sector of the UN deliberations."

Truman and the State Department tried to prevent the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Dr. Garcia6

Granados wlitt's: "itt one point Mr. Truman's pcr.sorritlitirplitne, the Sacred Cow, wirs oflcri'tl to rnembers of the Jewislr Aucrrcy Executive then in the Unitt'cl Strrtcsto fly them to Jerusalem, if tlrcy would agree to take up with their colleaguesthere the possible postponement of a proclamation of independence."

And it was imperialists, British and Arnerican, wlto instigated the Arab aggression agtrinst Israel. Dr. Frank E. Manuel in Tl"re Realities of American-Palestine Relntions concludes that the Pentagon strategists' "erroneous estimate of Arab military might and tenacity was in no small measure responsible for the original outbreak of the Palestine war" and that "the cold fact is that until the close of 1948, Creat Britain was abetted in its dog-in-the-manger policy by officials in the United States military and diplomatic establishment." It was despite imperialists, cold-war strategists and oil magnates that Israel came to life.

Arab leaders and others who echo them are swallowing imperialist propaganda when they accept the myth that Israel is a creation of imperialism.

Legitimacy, however, is no guarantee of wisdom in foreign policy.

Unfortunately in November, 1951 the Israeli government abandoned its ,. ''r, policy of "non-identification" as be\i tween East and West and embarked on a disastrous path of profiers of cooperation with the West that ctrl(Continuecl on page 3I) Jr,:wrsH(luuru,:u'rs

For the Tenth Anniaersary ol the.Bi,rth ol Israel, April 24:

col{uERSATltll{S W|TH|SRAEL|S An American visitor to Tel Aviv recounts her observations

By RACHEL my first few weeks in T)URING 'r/ Tel Aviv I seemed to be living in a tangle of holidays following upon each other's heels-festive days and weekdays, Sabbath eves and Sabbath days. I meandered about the streets of Tel Aviv, sorrretimes alone, sometimes with my dear and interesting friends Amma Yuri-Elli, and I observed everything and listened to everything and everything was so new to me.

Everything? No, not everything -some of the streets and neighborhoods took me back to the Jewish shtetl of long ago: the preparation for the holidays, the greetings and good wishes, the voices calling to each other. I passed by the Great Synagogue and saw beggars sitting in rows begging for alms. A busy trade in esrogi,m lcitrus fruit used in the Succoth rituall and all sorts of articles is carried on with excitement and fervor. And the prayingeverywhere the sound of praying emanates from the synagogues. I feel as though the whole world were Apnrr. 1958

HIRSHKAN.IWILLER

praying. Ever since my childhood this praying has reminded me of Jewish woes, of weeping and entreaty, of terror in the face of decrees, misfortunes and persecutions.

New for me was the theater district with the fine, modern houses surrounding it; the splendid symphony hall, the new movie theater, the outdoor cafes where hundreds of men and women sit at tables i Ia Paris, but better-dressed than the Parisians; several of the women here at the tables were quite elegantly and impressively garbed. And then there are the Moroccan Jewish women; willingly or not you turn to admire their beauty.

New for me were also such streets and boulevards as Nordau Boulevard with its beautiful homes gleaming white through the green of the trees.

N"* for me was the sight of Jewish children (I say "Jewish" from habit -there aren't any non-Jewish children here ) setting up barricades to stop auto-traffic on Sabbath and holiclays. This for me was so new

that I was frightened and went home feeling not at all festive.

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time in a park and became acquainted with several people with whom I would ordinarily never have spoken unless we had been "formalli introduced." I love city parks where mothers and children come to sit; where people who are weary

of the noisy streets or of their worries can relax. In a park people speak to orle another more quietly and cahnly and more candidly and whoever wants to "be alone" and think, or read is not disturbed by the sound of children playing; on the contrary, it is more pleasant-the grass, the trees, the flowers, sometimes a statue help a person to come to his senses and overcome a desire to run away

Kllow 1t0BoRDER RAtltBoWS

By GENA SOLTES Ol Kibbutz Yad Hannah Gray black sky with a big round moon.

Hundreds of clear clear stars, And buildings looking like stage sets The black hills of Jordan.

And green grass shining in the moonlight Your white buildings and minarets, Your green cypresses shining in the moonlight Only a railroad train divides our way And yet I cannot go and see you.

The railroad track is a boundary Even a simple rainbow knows 1 I There is no boundary!

Bending its glorious bridge of colors Between our fields and hills, It kisses my barn and your minaret.

Where has the sense of man gone?

Oh, how I wish I could cross the rainbow's bridge And be among your hills And lie under your swaying cypresses.

No borders would we know then Under the moon's full disk.

Jnwrsn CunnnNrs

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from himself and his fellows.

I sat down near a woman and her child. The woman was small and thin, with a sensitive face which told of much suffering. The child was a girl of about four with a tender and appealing little facea perfect subject for a great artist.

The mother was feeding the child as one does an infant. She held a slice of bread and butter in her hand and broke off tiny pieces and put them almost into the child's mouth, all the while repeating tenderly, "Eat this, my.dear, eat it, my child!"

With each bite that the little girl took into her mouth, the mother's face beamed. Then a man came up, the child's father, a tall, slender man with large, dark eyes. He brought a glass of milk and a spoon and in the same tender way fed the child the milk with the spoon. It was apparent that for both of them-the mother and the father-this was a sacred duty. Such an attitude of parents toward a child I had never seen before. It was unnatural and moved me to tears.

The mother noticed me and smiled happily toward ffi€, seeming to sense that I shared her happiness.

I took advantage of the opportunity: "Have you been here very long " "Seven years ." She hesitated a moment and then continued. "We lost everything there in Hitler's death-camps-our whole family and a son of L2 years."

Aenr,, 1958

"And how have you found things here?"

Her husband handed her the milk and the spoon, turned his head toward ffi€, looked at me with his large, dark eyes and repeated my question: "How things are with us here?" He pointed to the child.

"There-she, she is our life and our happ,iness. She was born to us here.

She is compensation for everything.

She will be a Jewish child, she will not have to hide from the children in school with her Jewish name."

Had I not been embarrassed I woulC have asked the mother and father to let me hold the little girl in my arms for a minute. All three of them became very close to meand the country, dear and beloved.

Today I walked. into a store to buy paper and envelopes-a "Stationery and Candy Store" in the theater district. The proprietor, a good-looking woman, neatly dressed, observ. ing that I stood "looking over" her store, did not wait for me to speak first but said to me-she did not oslc ffi€, she told me-"You're from America!"

"Yes, from America," I smilingly confirmed.

She sighed deeply. "Tell ffie, please, where can one escape to from here?"

I stood flustered, so unexpected was her question. "Escape from here?You..."

She did not let me ffnish. She ap-

parently anticipated what I was the Arabs urrrl no\v--" She broke about to say. "I am not complain- into tears. ing about my business,God forbid!"

I tlied to cornl'ort hcr. "But there "Well then, the climate?" is tio war now."

"The climate!" She was insulted.

"No war! But rnothers can't sleep "Is there a country in the world and are afraid to tum on the radio with a better climate than ours?" lest they hear the bitter news that I decided not to say anything a son fell at the borders!

You further, but to wait for her. With a Jews in America, they say you have sudden gesture she wrung her influence in your country. Why hands and said tear{ully: "I don't do'n't you see to it that America sleep nights!" makes peace between Israel and I forgot my resolve and said sym- the Arabs? Then we would really pathetically, "Sick?" be able to live here in our coun'iWorse than any sickness in the try . ." In a tone of entreaty she world. When you have an only son added, "America could do it!" and they take him away into the Hollowly I repeated after her, "America could do it . . ." And this army ."

"So.!" time it was I who sighed, as I left "Yes, so!" she repeated. "First the store. my husband killed in the war with LTran,slated lrom the Yirldish)

MEDICAT PRIIGRESS III ISRAET Some faets and figures about the aehievements of fsraeli doctors fN THE summer of i957, Moses Einr horn, M.D.. the editor" visited Israel to take part in the 30th anniversary celebration of the Hebrew Medical Iournql (983 Park Ave., N. Y. 28printed three times a year in English and Hebrew). While in Israel, Dr. Einhorn rnade a comprehensive study of the health conditions in that country.

Dr. Einhorn's report printed in the current issue of the Hebrew Medical Journal, Volume 2, L957, underlines the impressive character of the Israel medical achievements rvhich have transformed within a few decades a notoriously backward region of the world

into an oasis of health and well-being.

Since the establishment of the State, hospital and clinic services have expanded rapidly and have more than kept pace with the influx of immigrants.

In 19,49, 63 hospitals functioned in Israel, providing 4,626 beds (5.33 beds per I,000 population). In 1956, the nurn'ber of hospitals rose to 102 with 12,254 beds (6.85 beds per 1,000 population ). Health conditions among imrnigrants have been raised quickly.

The medi,cal institutions, it is reported, are quite varied, but most of them have displayed great re-u sourcefulness and .opJ"ity for

growth. Especially notable is Kupat Holim, which is a voluntary orgarrizatiorr performing important social functions on a national scale. Based on the principle of a cooperative society and mutual aid, it is a unique phenomenon not only relative to Israel but also to the outside world.

The doctor population ratio irr Israel -about one physician serving 460 people-is one of the highest in the world.

It compares with 710 in the United States, 3,L97 in Turkey, 4,635 in Egypt, 5,276 in Syria, 6,296 in Jordan, and 64,835 in Ethiopia. About 50 percent of the Israel doctors are over 50 years of age, as compared with 40 percent in the United States. Yet, Dr. Einhorn points out, there is a serious shortage of physicians, particularly in the rirral and outlying areas. The author believes that a strong effort must be made by the Medical School to increase the supply of young doctors.

Great strides have been made, it is noted, in eradicating the menace of tuberculosis, malaria and polio, rvhich in Israel has been particularly acute in certain phases of mass immigration and colonization. ln 1949, tuberculosis in Israel claimed 19.6 deaths per I00,000 inhabitants; the figure was 7.4 in 1956. Malaria, which was a serious problem in the earlier phases of Jewish colonization-there were districts with 100 percent incidence-has been successfully eradicated. Malaria declined from 2.0 cases per 1,000 population in 1950 to 0.04 in 1955.

Prior to 1957, the polio situation was dominated by the epidemic of 1950-5f which caused great havoc among children oI tender age. Be' tween 1949 and 1956 there were 5,637 polio cases of whom over 2,000 remained invalids, and the number of deaths was Bl2. The anti-polio Salk vaccine campaign in 1957, however, is expected to alter the entire situation

Arnrl, 1958 f,r-i r.'

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and to eliminate a serious menaceo Dr. Einhorn emphasizes. The Israel AntiPolio Foundation has cooperated with the Israel Government in combatting the disease and has also established sumn-rer camps for the polio victims.

Last year over 600 children were accommoclated in the camps.

One ol the tnost impressive achievements of the Israel medical effort, Dr. Einhorn points oui, has been the reduction of infant mortality, namely, from 51.7 per thousand births in 1949, to 32.3 in 1956. Trachoma, bilharzia and various other tropical diseases, inevitably a menace in a period of mass immigration from backward lands, have also been effectively combatted.

Mental health is one of Israel's greatest problems. This is mainly the result unselected immiof two factors-the gration rvhich prevailed in Israel until 1952 and the legacy of the Nazi atrocities. The Ministry of Health maintains labor villages for male and female mental patients and a number of rehabilitation centers. Also worthy of note are the mental hygiene clinics in the larger cities of the country, as well as in the colonies. The problem of hospitalizing mental patients is one of the gravest health problems.

Dr. Einhorn also instances the important medical services rendered to the Arab population of Israel. A special tuberculosis hospital has been established for the Arab community in Nazareth. Mobile medical units are maineained by the Ministry of Health for the Bedouin tribes in the Negev area. Dr. Einhorn believes that once normal conditions are restored in the Mi.idle East, the experience of the Arab minority in Israel is likely to be translated on a regional scale and to bring about a revolutionary change to one of the most notorious diseaseareas in the world.

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@fisffieffiL Notes on Israelts Ten Years.

Israel now provides 70 per cent of its own food needs. The value of its agriculture has grown 200 peq cent since 1948. Planted acreage has tripled. Citrus yield has doubled, vegetable production quadrupled. More ihan half a billion dollars have been invested in agriculture, much of it donated by U.S. Jews H9wever,, the majority of farm settlements are not yet self-supporting.

The kibbutzim, cooperative farm settlements, are-facing dfficultiei.

Th"y are experiencing a manpower shortage and their lnfluence on the economy and culture of the'country has diminished. They are losing their pioneering_appeal for young people. The Israeli population hai more than doubled but the kibbutzim have grown by only 25,000 to 79,700 at the beginning of 1957. From I77 kibbutzim in 1918, the number has grown to 229 today. "Moshavim," farm settlements in which property is owned bv individuals, have grown three times as fast as kibbutzim, in which'the land is owned 5y the kibbutz organization as a whole (ff.Y. Times, Feb. 20) Arab pupils in state schools now number more than 29,000 in Israel's total Arab population of about 200,000. Irrigated land cultivated by Arabs has inbreased from 500 to 7,500 acres. Agricultural machines in Arab villages have risen from five in 1948 to los itt 1957. .

Israel's most pr-omising area for land development is the Negev, wedge-shaped area iso -ilei long by 60 miles wide at the broadest point. The Negev is half desert but contains mineral deposits and land that is tillable if irrigated.

The port_ of Elath, at ths southern tip and on the Gulf of Aqaba, has ope-n_edIsrael to shipping with Asia and Africa.

Religion is a pro'blem in Israel. Afthough no accurate figures on religious iffiliation exist, 13_ pe_r cent of Israel's voters belong to the three Orthodox parties. Sabbath observance from Friday it sundown to Saturday njSlt i.q written into the law even though a majority of Israelis do not abide_ by all Sabbath practices. TherJ are bofh secular and religious schools; about 35 per cent of the parents enroll their children in the religious schools. Rab,binical courti have complete jurisdiction over marriage, divorce, child guardianship and adoption. Non-Jews are exempted from use of these courts.

A nuclear physics - building f"l ,f." Weizmann Institute is nearing completion, thus contributing to Israel's hope of becoming a scientific

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center for the Mi<idle East. 160 scientists work at the institute and on an 86 research projects are in progress. Thq institute operat_es annual budgei of $3,000,000paid for by the government,the Jewish Agency and funds raised abroad. a

The bud,get proposed, for Israel's tenth yeq_ is $645,400,000,an increaseover the previous year of #60,662,000.More than 16 per cent (the exact figure is secret) is known to 89 for the military. Food subsidies account for $21,400,000;export subsidies (which make exports competitivein the world market) get #27,200,000.Tax_eswill be slightly reduced by ending the levy for the military imposed after the attack on Sinai. .

An Academy ol Fine Artso offering instruction in painting, sculpture and the graphic arts. has been opened at the Bezalel School in Jerusalem.Up to now the school concentratedon the graphic arts and crafts that wbuld afford students a living (lsrael lVeekly Digest. Jan. 23). . . . An exhibition of "Two Thousand Years of ChineseArt" had been viewed by over 52,000 in eight cities by the end of Jan.

is being challenged by the Mapai representation Proportional Paiy. A bill to change Israel's voting system to the American method of eiecting according- to constituencies was presented to the Knesset

by Mapai early in Feb. While under proportional representation the country is one constituency and Knesset seats are assigned in propor' tion to the votes received by each party, the proposed system would divide Israel into I20 constituencies and the candidate receiving a plurality in each would be elected. This system would eliminate representation of minority parties and institute a two-party system, instead of the ten parties now in the Knesset. Premier Ben Gurion strongly supports thC change. The General Zionists have introduced an amendment that would create 90 local districts and assign the remaining 30 seats by proportional representation.

of Polish ,rll, ," Israel have applied for return Ooer BO lanfiIies to Poland. In most of them the wife is non'Jewish and the complaint is that the wives are ostracised by their neighbors. Difficulty in obtainIsraeli officials ing housing and suitable work are other reasons. in- Warsaw say that only seven families and some individuals have returned to Poland from among those that emigrated last year, who numbered about 33,000, including 2,000 non-Jews rnarried to Jews.

L. H.

Arnn, 1958

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'6Netser

Long Playing Records

A SEtECTl0ll F0LKMUSIC: ISRAEL DEFENDERS OF ISRAEL SONGS -10" ISRAEL-LP 2. Israel Folk Symphony Orchestra, conducted by lVlarc Lavry. Includes songs by Tel Aviv Workers' Chorus and Shir Hapalmach by Tel Aviv Opera Chorus, HEBREW FOLK SOMS -Mark Olf and Guitar-l0" FOLKWAYS -FW 928. Includes Tzena, Tzena and 12 others.

ISRAELI FOLK DANCES-Martha Schlamme and Mort FreemanSeries of three records, I0" ISRAEL-LP 5, 6, 7. Third record also includes voices of Rachel Hadass and Theodore Bikel.

ISRAEL DANCES-The Tzabar Group-IO" FOLKWAYS-FU/ 935.

IEWISH FOLK SONGS, Vol. 3-Ruth Rubin-l2" ORIOLE. Includes sevenIsraeli songsas well as East UuropeanYiddish songs.

LAND OF UTILK AND HOI\EY-Hillel RIVERand Aviva-I2" SIDE-RIP 12-BO3 MailC OF NACHANI NARDI-Bracha Zfira and Martha Schlamrne -I2II TTEBRAICA-LP 1.

SHEPHERD AND OTHBR FOLK SOMS OF ISRAEL-Hillel and Aviva-lO' FOLKWAYS-FP B4f.

SO WE DANCE-Ahuva Tzadok-IO" REENA-LP L4. Israel folk dances accompaniedby Nachum Nardi and folk instrumentalists.

SONGS OF HOPB-Ij" ISRAEL-LP 3. Tel Aviv Chamber Orchestra conductedby Marc Lavry.

F'OLKWAYS SONGS F'ROM THE BIBLE-Hillel anC Aviva-l0" -FP 842.

ISRAELIAN A-Martha Schlamme-l0" REENA-LP 2. Composed and accompaniedby Nachum Nardi.

SOiVGS OF ISRAEL AND MAIUY LANDS-Hillel ancl Avivl-'tl" f002. Includes ten Israeli songs.

TRADITION-TP YIDDISH FOLK SONGS AND SONGS OF NIANY PEOPLES -Jewish Young Folksingers-lO' STINSON-SLP 67. Includes Hava Nagila.

THE VEAVERS AT CARNEGIE HALL-TT" VANGUARDVRS-9010. Includes two Israeli songs, Tzena, Tz.ena and Mi Y'Malel.

FOLK SONGS OF ISRAEL--Iheodore Bikel-I2" ELECTRA

A partieipant in the Uprising recalls leading personalities of the Ghetto

By Dr. A. BERMAN Shadorvs of the Warsaw Ghetto-shadows of the turbulent. stormv. struggling ^world, which is already past, which has become history.

Shadows of those who made history

EMAIfUEL RIIIGELBLUM' lllsT0RlAll 0F THECHETT0

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fT IS very difficult to write about a r close comrade and friend to whom one has been bound for 20 years" since we were students, with strands of sincere love and friendship. He stands before my eyes as in the old days befor_e the bloody deluge-tall, siender with a handsome srniling face. For me he was always the em*bodiment of a fiery spirit and enthusiasm. He bubbled with energy and life, with initiative and activity. In a wonderful way he . combined within himself the skilis of a serious scientist and a fiery commu_ nal leader. He was ,""osrrized his" tgtiq" of Polish Judaism in ?olish and Yiddish scientific circles. His books.

Dn. Anom Banlten,, lead,er ol the Lelt Poale Zi.ort in Poland, rook Ttiart in the 'He Warsaw Ghetto [Jprising. played, an actit;e role in the Jewish community in Poland, alter the war until he settlerl i,n,Isru,el in 1948. This arti.cle is transIated irorn, Icuf, Yiddish nonthly. in i' Argentina.

SONCS OF ISRAEL Hillel and Aviva-l0" FOLKWAYS-FP 847.

OMS-Yaffa Yarkoni, rvith Nachum Nardi-l0" CHILDREM HED.ARZIAN IO-TB. ISRAEL SINGS -llichard Tucker-I2" COLIJMBIA-ML 4806.

D. P.

Arnu-, 1958

Jnwrsn Cunnnxrs

,/

neaer to forget.t,

FivePortraits of Ghetto Heroes

-r32.

14

to lorgiae,

/t

such as The History'the' of the Jews in Warsq,u,, lews in Rebellion ol Tadeusz Kosciuslto and many others -all based on rich, archival material -gave him a reputation as a rising star in the writing of Jewish history-.

He wrote and created a great deai; exceptionally productive and a volcano of energy, yet at the same time he ne /er locked himself in his studv. He was always-body and soul-iinked with Jewish cultural work and social struggles.

From his school days, Ringelblurn was connected with the left wing of the "Poale-Zion" movement, but alwayr and until the end of his life he was faithful to the USSR, to the idea oI proleta,rian struggle, to the concepl of a United Front with the revolutionary forces in the struggle against fascism and reaction, for social ant r,ational liberation.

Back in L927-30 years ago-we participated together in the broad anti-fasciet bloc of Polish and Jewish students at Warsaw University. In

l5

Emanuel Ringelblum 1936 we participated actively in the niove' Jewish progressive cultural ment, together with Alter Kazisne Nachman-Meisel, Shachne Zagan, Dr' Raphael Mahler, Michael MirskY, Dr' David Sfard and others. Ringelblum was an ardent adherent of the World Conference of Jewish Culture which was held in Paris in Septemtber, 1937.

When the second World War broke out and the Nazi artnies were nearing Warsaw, Ringelblum refused to leave Poland. He declared, "millions of the iewish people remain here; we too must remain here. We have to staY with the people." Under the hail of bombs and shrapnel, Ringelblum, with many other active workers, organized in beleeguered Warsaw the great re' lie{ cenier for the war victims; and a.gain, destiny brought us together. lrline was the task in this great en' deavor to direct the relief work for children; Ringelblum, for the adults.

16

In the Warsaw Ghetto, Ringelblum rose to the stature o[ the highest popularitv. His idea was that each house in the Ghetto should be transformed into a fortress of self'defense and mutual aid. Thanks to his energies.

2,000 house committees were formed in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Rinselblum, together with the young ..onoiltirt Menaliem Linder, was one of the founders of the secret cultural organization in the Warsaw Ghetto, "Y-cor" (Yiddisher Cultur Organizat' sie), rvhich, under the inhuman con' ditions of Ghetto life, conducted exten' sive cultural activities. His favorite idea. however, was to create an under' sround ghetto archive, which would Eollect tf,e documents and materials of the struggle and extinction of Po' lish Jewry.--Together with a numrber of young historians and communal workers, he organized an archive proj' ect under the innocent name oI "Oneg Shabbath." Here were gathered thou' sands of documents which were later buried in hermetically sealed boxes under the basement of a Progressive Jewish Shule in Warsaw. After the war, the Jewish Institute of History in Warsaw dtg up those invaluable boxes and carrJ and restored the fa' r mous "Ringelblum Archives.')

At the same time, Ringelblum Par' ticipated actively in all the efforts aimed at organizing the armed resist' ance in the Warsu* Gh"tto. He was an enthusiastic adherent of the anti' fascist bloc which, thanks to the pro' gressive forces, was organized in the beginning oI 1942.

Then came the murderous Nazi ex' terminatins actions. In the last action, which preJipitated the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto, Ringelblum fell into Nazi hands. He was sent to the death' camp Travniki, in the county of Lublin. Even there he did not rest. With his burning cnerf{}' he helped to orJnwrsH

CunnrNrs

ganize the Jewish fighting organization and at the same time wrote a brilliant rnonograph about the death camp "Travniki." ('Ihe nronograph was destroyed auhe time of the Polish up. rising in Warsaw.)

We, the comrades in the leadership of the Jewish underground movemenf, made superhuman efforts to save Ringelblum from the death-camp. Sev. eral times we sent rescue expeditions in which Jewish and Polish emissaries participated. Not until the third time did we succeed in rescuing him from the death camp and bringing him to Warsaw. The'joy was in'deJcribable.

Together with his wife and young son, he was quartered in a secret un. derground "Bunker" (hide-out) un. derneath a big garden, where 34 other iews were hidden. Even there, Ringel. blum did not rest. He wrote important historical monographs. I had occasion to meet with him in the "Bunker" under strict secret conditiond to discuss all the burning problems of our struggle and' rescue work. Together we wrote there our o'Testamenl))-g letter to the creators of Jewish culture

in all the rvorld about the cultural life i n the Warsaw Ghetto.

Then came the horrible day of March 7, 1944. Through an informer. the secret hide-out was discovered by the Nazis. All 37 Jews were taken to the Paviak prison. Ringelblum was singled out, separated from the rest, and placed in the frightful detention house of the Gestapo Headquarters.

The Nazis knew who it was that had fallen into their hands. Three days and three nights they tortured him horri,bly to force from him the secrets of the Jewish undersround movement. the names and addre"ssesof its leaders.

Ringelblum did not break down. He remained heroic. Then he was put into the death house in Paviak together with his little son. We made super. human efforts to rescue him a second time {rom Nazi hands, but this time it was impossible. W"e received only one short letter from him through a Polish prison keeper. He asked for polson.

A few days later he was shot to. gether with his wife and child amid the ruins of the W'arsaw Ghetto.

YAI|USH KoRTCHAK, LoyEROFCHILDRE]I WAS not personally acquainted with Yanush Kortchak until the Second World War. I had admired him as the best and most talented writer for children, as a brilliant con. noisseur of the child's soul, and a great pedagogue. I knew he was a medical doctor, a pediatrician,. and his real name was Dr. Henryk Goldsmith.

The orphanage at 92 Krachmalny in Warsaw was considered in Poland a model horne for children. Kortchak introduced his own pedagogical method. The main idea was complete selfgovernment by the children; a small f r

:b

I '

p

Apnrr..1958

"children's republic" with a really strict 'oconstitution." His closest de. voted co-worker, the well-known Jew. ish pedagogue Stephania Viltchinska. had helped him to realize his ideas.

For a few short years Kortchak had also puhlished the best newspaper for children, Maly Pshegland, (The Young Reviewer). Children did their own writing and editing of the newspaper under the supervision of Kortchak and his very close Polish co-worker Abramov (his present pen-name is Ygor Nevedli, he is one of the well-known progressive writers of People's Po. land).

Kortchak's wonderful radio 1n

L'

for children and their par' programs -ents-, "Talks with alt Old l)ot'tot'," had millions c,f listerrers. Our per'' sonal acquaintance rvith Kortchak artd Stefa Viltchinska began in the tragic Nazi days of the Warsarv Ghetto when I conducted the vast child protective organization in the Ghetto (Centos) which gave protection and helP- to 25,000 Jewisli children in 100 chil' dren's protective institutions, among rvhich were also 25 orphanages and shelters. It was then that I had the personally to conviuce opportunity myself of the burning fanat_ical love towards children that the "old doctor" had, and how hard he fought to uPhold the high standards he required for his Children's Home.

Kortchak was {anatically devoted to his ideas and convictions. For his prin' ciples he paid with months of confine' mlnts in ihe Warsaw Paviak because he absolutely refused to wear the Nazi sign for Jew, the blue-white band and it cost much money and difficultY 'Ianrch Kortchak to rescue him from there.

Then came the horrible daYs of the o'Slaughter the Warsaw Ghetto toward Nazi extermination acts in the War' saw Ghetto. The first victims were the Square," where there waited the death Jewish children. Upon them, with the wagons which carried hundreds and help of the traitorous Jewish police, thousands of Jews and Jewish children to the horrible death camp at the- Nazis inflicted a terrible pogrom.

This was no accident. Certain SS offi- Treblinka So also there marched along the cers had openly and cynically declared children of Kortchak House. Heading that the Jewish children, as the future them was the "old doctor," holding of the Jewish people, must be liqui' dated first. Thus rvould the Jewish the hands of two small children. Toeether with him were Stefana Viltchinperish. . . . 'people as a whole -of Ika and all the rest of the staff. At the Jewish chilW", the leaders dren's rescue organization, made fever- "Slaughter Square" the Jewish police. men rvanted to separate him from the ish attempts to ies"ue the Jewish children from the Nazi murder hands. children and to free him but he refused their proposal with contempt; However, we were helpless. They de' and with dignity and courage he enstroyed and ruined one children's in' stitution after another. There now be- tered the death-wagon together with his children. Thus ended the life of a gan the shocking and gruesome march great educator of children. of the Jewish children from the chil' Yanush Kortchak was not a "pro. dren's institutions along the streets of

!r

18

Jnwrsu CunnnNrs

gressive" fighter. He stood aloof from ideological political struggles. His books and his whole pedagogical outlook were influenced by a profoundly human and democratic spirit. His liv. ing for the happiness of children and his proud death as a martyr will en. dure as a lnonument for generations

to come and as a warning of the horrible crimes of which fascism is capable, crimes that led to the gruesome death of a million and a half Jewish children. The death of the children and their teachers is a call to arms against the Nazi murderers of children.

iloRItECAIAIilELEYITGH, G0MMAIilIER 0F THEUpRlSlltG

,qt t

I '

s I

was the young eagle of the TIHIS r Jewish resistance movement. When the Warsaw Chetto was formed he was not even 20 years old and he was killed in the fight as a commander o{ the Jewish fighting organization at the age of 23. , W" became friendly in the Ghetto.

He was a slender and handsome young man with the fine, earnest face of a fiery idealist. Intelligent and energet. ic, he became a leading figure of the youth organization Hashomer Hazair at a young age. He was seriously interested in social and political activities and more than once in a friendly manner we discussed ideological and political matters. At the beginning, he and his comrades had evidenced centrist tendencies towards the problems of *re international working class. In the course of the few years in the Ghetto Hell" thev underwent a process of trernendous radicalization, moving towards the left. Anielevitch and also his closest co-fighters, the stormy organizer Joseph Kaplan and the young talented Shmuel Breslau, took outspoken pro-Soviet positions, and they saw in the Red Army the only salvation for the iewish people and for mankind as a whole.

This viewpoint drew them closer to 'the progressive movement. It was no accident that when, through the efforts of the progressive forces, there

Arnrr,; 1958

was initiated the anti-fascist bloc in the Warsaw Chetto, the first to join it were the left Paole-Zion and Hasho. mer Hazair; later on the bulk of the Paole-Zion, and Hehalutz (pioneering movement) also joined them. This anti-fascist bloc formed the first armed fighting organizatiorr in the Warsaw Ghetto; it was the basis of the future "Jewish Fighting Organization" which carried out the heroic ghetto-uprising.

Armed resistance-that was the dream and the fixed idea of Mordecai Anielevitch. This idea ripened in the minds of the broad Jewish massesafter the first Nazi murderous extermination act. When in January, L943 the second "liquidation action" was perpetrated. the first group of the Jewish armed forces appeared in the streets of the Ghetto. Leading them was Anielevitch, who personally took part in the dra. matic street fights.

Miraculously he escaped death. Jervish workers rescued him from Nazi hands and hid I ' .ln a cellar.

Then after rne second action the fighting organization started feverishly to prepare for the uprising. Anielevitch becarne the leader of the fighting move. ment. On April 19, L943, when the Nazi murderers began the third and final extermination lneasures, the Jewish uprising broke out. Four days after the uprising, April 23, Anielevitch o'The wrote, dream of my life is fullo

LV

the staff perished. It continued sorne long weeks lnore.

When the Chetto was already enveloped in blood and {'lanres, Polish progressive fighters of the Polish Workers Party and the People's Guard saved 82 Ghetto fighters through the sewers, among them the well known Halutz leader, Zivie Lubetkin. Some

solfc0F TltETtilES

By NOCHEM YaD Quietly the undefended dies; Everyone is dumb.

A' generation brutiffed; A savage time has'come.

AI|DZHEI SCHMTDT AltDJ0SEPH LEyART0VSKY, lnl0LllERS 0F UlllTY

Clouds of blackness, wrathful omen, Prowling high and low; Here a Pharaoh, there a Haman, Worse than long ago.

And our own betrayers, too, Set the world a{lame.

The people waste and wither soon, Like fields of shriveling grain Fall not helpless in your corner, Each one with his pain.

While a spark still lingers somewhere, Light will burst again.

But if fate must have us die, Better then defiantly!

To bare the throat before the knife.

That shall never be! ( Tt. from the Yiddish by Max Rosenfeld, from (Inzer Gezang, Warsaw, L947) ,

?Y filled. I was a witness to the Jewish armed resistancein the Ghetto."

The tragic struggle continued through many long rveeks.The Ghetto was in flames and the Jewish fighters continued to hurl o'Molotov cocktails" Igasoline-filled bottles] and grenades at the Nazi murderers.

Only three weekslater, May B, L943, the Bunker at Mila No. 18. the head-

20 lr

of the progressive Ghetto fighters who managed to escape from the claws of the Nazis fonned a partisan detach. rnent and continued to fight the enemy in the Polish forests. They named their detachment for Mordecai Aniele. vitch. The name of this young eagle of the Jewish anti-Nazi fight will live forever in the history of our people.

quarters of the military staff of the "Jewish Fighting Organization," was surrounded on all sides by the SS and Nazi-gendarmes who attacked the Bunker with grenades and gas bomhs.

After an unequal fight, the Bunker fell. The leaders of the uprising, and with them Mordecai Anielevitch, per-. ished. The fight of the Ghetto heroes did not cease, however" not even after

Jriwrsu CunnnNrs

ITWO magnificent personalities of the r revolutionary, progressive Ghetto fighters: one, a'.epresentative of the younger generation; the second, a veteran of the revolutionary move. ment. Both, like boulders, unafraid and flaming anti-fascist fighters.

I became acquainted atd friendly with them in the Warsaw Ghetto in the early part of 1942. My personal comrade and friend, an old revolutionist, Engineer Veinkeeper-Vatroshek, who was active in progressive circles in the Warsaw Ghetto, informed me in February 19'42 that an official rep. resentative of the Polish Workers Par. ty and of the People's Guard wanted to see me, as he had been delegated to the Chetto to organize the Jewish anti-Nazi resistance movement. I gladly invited him right away. He introduced himself as Andzhei Schmidt.

The very firs't impression was a charmirg one: a slender young man with a handsome, serious oval face, slightly sad blue eyes. He spoke quietly, calmly, to the point. He weighed and measured each sentence, factual and concrete. One felt in him a tremendous, inner spiritual power and, simultaneously, the self-control of an experienced revolutionist.

Not until later did I learn that his real name was Pinhus Kartin and that he had been connected with the pro-

Arnn, 1958

gressive fighting movement from his early youth. In 1936 he fousht in the International Brigade in Spain, in the Jewish Botwin Battalion of the Polish Yaroslaw-Dombrovsky Brigade.

When the war began between the USSR and Hitler Germany he was in Moscorv. He had expressed a strong desire tc participate in the anti-Nazi fight in Poland and was parachuted onto Polish soil. Here he was sent into the Warsaw Ghetto to help organize the fight against the greatest enemy of the Jewish people and of all man. .. ,, kind.

In e .'frrst conversation he gave me detailed information about the struggle of the Polish Workers Party and the People's Guard and suggested the formation of a united anti-fascist bloc in the Warsaw Ghetto. I accepted his proposition with enthusiasm and declared that my comrades and I had come to the conclusion that such a united anti-fascist front in the Ghet. to was the order of the day.

At the second session at which we were supposed to have a concrete dis. cussion of how to bring about impor. tant steps, there came also Joseph Le. vartovsky. He too rnade a deep impression on me. An elCerly person, from the first few words he uttered one coulil feel that he was a wise, earnest and (Continued, on page 33)

2L

er Chasin concluded, 'will mean that 'owould be paying Germany Americans out of their own pockets for having started and lost World War II." An answer to the question of where the pressure for return of German property is coming from was given by Drew Pearson, Washington colurnnist, February 23. He charged that General iulius Klein, Illinois Republican wheel, had urged this policy upon Dulles, in behalf of a lobby of German property holders.

HEJEIryISH OMMUNITY Music

Jewish

Council

Thirty-trvo new Jewish music works were commissioned as a result of a program launched last year 'by the Jewish Music Council of the National Jewish Welfare Board. Some of the compositions were heard during the I4th annual observance of Jewish Music Month Feb. l- to March I this year.

Among the works commissioned were: an opera dedi,cated to the 10th Anniversary of Israel, Siegfried Landauby the Opera Theatre of Westchester: contest for a work for a choir of mixed voices set to a Yiddish poetic text, by the Workmen's Circle (l\.Y.) ; contest for a choral work of Jewish interest, by the iewish Community Center of Creater Miami; an opera, Bontsche Schweig, for solos, dancers and or. chestra, Bernard Wilets-by Jewish Community Center of Long Beach, Calif.; a Purim Operetta, Charles Da. vidson and Ray Smolover-by the Na. tional Women's League.

Zionist

Organization

ol America

Speaking at a meeting of the National Zionist Executive Council of the 'Iorczyner, ZOA, Jacques chairman of the ZOA World Zionist Affairs Committee, said that the forthcoming ses. sion of the World Zionist Actions Committee in Jerusalem in March. will be devoted to a discussion of two major issues: I ) the relationship between the world Zionist movement and the fTovernmentof Israel and 2) the budget

of ,the Jervish Agency for 1958-59.

Mr. Torczyner said the discussion on the relationship between the world Zionist movement and the Israeli gov. ernment rvill assume special signifi. can,ce in the light of differences be. tween Israeli Premier Ben Gurion and Dr. Nahum Goldmann: president of the World Zionist Organization. Dr. Coldmann has advocated a policy of neutralism for Israel while Mr. Ben Gurion repudiated such a policy.

Jenish

]nvvrsrr CunnnNrs

7.| rtt .*.-.q-

*-

*..'*-j.

-\'.'qdr**

Americon

s t,

"."..i..G!Fr_'

Jewish

Congress

An AJ Congress regional rneeting in Jersey City in ian. opposed the placing of religious symbols such as ireches, menorahse crosses or stars of 'I'his David, on public school propertv. opposition, the resolution stated, "in no way derives from hostility to religious beliefs" but is based rather "on the faith that complete separation betwec'n state and religion is best for state and best for religion."

The national convention of AJ fjon' gress will be held in Miami Beach May l4-May lB. Iligh on the agencla will be the progress of civil rights Iegislation, U.S. policy in the Midclle East, school integration, sectarian re' ligious intrusions upon the public schools, the present-day status of Jew. ish culture and education, and other national and international issues. Spe.

Arnn, 1958

oo

Organizations

The presidents of 17 major Jewish organizations in the U.S. on Feb. 19 denounced the Arab boycott against American citizens and firms doing business rvith Israel. In an l8-page report entitled "Bigotry and Blackmail," they stated that some companies, including major oil companies, have yielded to the boycott and the discrimination.

Veterans

The National Commander of the iWV of the U.S.A., Benjamin H. Chas. in, protested Febru ary 14 the Admin. istration plan for action by Congress that rvould make American taxpayers assume double liability for former enemy assets valued at over one-half billion dollars, notwithstanding existing treaty obligations.

Chasin cited the fact that other veterans' organizations have "repeatedly gone on record opposing return of this so-called alien property. The German Covernment agreed by treaty to reim, burse its nati6nals fbr the value of the property in return for the American Government's agreement not to ask for reparations or for any of the money advanced to the new German Government up to the time of the Bonn 1952 treaty.

One wonders where the pressure for return is coming from.

It certainly is not conring from the An-rerican people."

The Administration plan, Command-

4a

U

War

77 |ewish

cial features are planned to celebrate Israel's tenth anniversary.

Sidney Hollander of Baltimore, Md., has been appointed chairman of the Convention The Sidney Hollander Committee.

Foundation, established in his honor, gives an annual award for "outstanding achievement" in fostering equal rights for Negroes in Maryland.

YM.YWHA The Young Men's-YoungWomen's Hebrew Associations of Greater New York issued an appeal Jan. 22 for $6,000,000 to build 12 community cen. ters in Nerv York City, Westchester and Nassau Counties in the next three years. Plans call for two-story buildings, containing a combined gy-nasium auditorium, and lounges, clubrooms, recreation rooms and social service offices. They are expected to serve 50,000 mene women and children. The proposed centers, costing about $500,000 each, would be built as funds become available. The first, expected to be ready in 1959, will be in the Mosholu district of The Bronx.

The centers will be open to all residents regardless o{ race or religion.

Sabbath

Law

The Board of Rabbis and all other rabbinical organizations in New York have been workinq for a fair Sabbath "a law. embodied in bill introduced in the State Assembly by Sidney Asch (D., Brooklyn). The bill amends the City Charter to permit legislation authorizing the conduct of business on Sunday by those who observe another day of rest. March 6 the l{. Y. City Courrcil approved the bill, 1l Jews and three Protestants voting for, seven Catholics against. March 20 the State Assembly killed it, 85 to 61.

S. p.

23

Mattes, news editor who recently returned from a five-week visit to Israel. As always I was moved by the bottomless devotion of these old-timers to what they regard as a basic institution in their lives.

Many present had lived with the Freiheit from the day it was born, April 2, 1922. The 8,000 readers, Suller reported, have undertaken to raise $200,000 to meet the annual deficit. By March 4 they had $135,210! (Contributionscan be sent to 35 E. i2 St., N. Y. 3:) My appeal for solidarity with Jnwtsn Cunnnnrs was warmly received.

. A %uil, GtunillrelCtnIlwIoAT Nathan Ausubel has done it again. A Treasury of Jewish Folklore is now in its 15th printing. A Treasury ol Jewish Humor was a worthy companion. Nory we are indebted to him and his wife Marynn ftor A Treasury ol lewish Poetry from Biblical times to the present that should fascinate anyone interested in poetry and even ticlile the appetite of some who think they are not (Crown Publishers, N. Y., 559 pages, $5.95). The Treasury is well-stocked with 759 poems by 253 poets,-including 2I women, from 26 countries. At first as you biowse you think "everybody" is in it. There are even three poems from the o'lewish Life" Anthology: Eve Merriam's o'Restricted," and Yuri Suhl's 'oAnd the Earth Rebelled" and Binem Heller's o'Pesach Has Come to the Chetto Again,",both translated by Max Rosenfeld. Then you begin to nriss poets-H. Leivick, Zischa Weinper, Aaron Kurtz, Aaron Kramerb-ut y_ou_decide that no anthology can be complete and you are soon absorbed in the riches before you, reading favorites, rediscovering poems forgotten, discovering new ones.

As I read on and ono down the ases and across the continents in translations from a score of langua{es, I found this Treasury firm evidence that the Jews are a world people with certain common Lxperiences, a common psychological character molded by these experiences and a common culture reflecting them. This fact is illuminated in the Ausu,bels' able 50 page introductory sketch of the history of Jewish poetry. As for their definition of Jewish poetry, that's another matter, and a controversial one. Their definition is simple: "Jewish poetry consists of all poetry created by Jews." I offer mine. "Jewish poetry includes all poems in any language by Jewish poets on Jewish tfiemes, or- revealing a Jewish experience, idiom; style, imagery or frame of reference, together with all poetry on all themes by Jewish poets writing in Jewish languages (Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish)." Thus f would have re-titled tlre Ausubels'volume A Treasury ol Jewish Poets and Poetry.

Arguments, discussion and (friendly) abuse invited.

o "Tllottqnn fu.eilaif" (on(nnnnrn Spentthe day rewardinglyat an EasternRegionalCo'f"r".,1"?fn:"1 140 active supporters of the Yiddish daily, tbe Morgen. Freilceit. There were reports by Chaim Suller, manager, Paul Novick, editor, and David

24 fl{

o fnanhallan .tn4iilafbn fun(nnnnrn February B-9 Called by Manhattan Divisions (male ancl female) of the American Jewish Congress, a legislative conference was held with 17 groups participating, including Pioneer Women (labor Zionists), Jewish-Labor Conrmittee, Urban League, NAACP, YWCA, United World Federalists, District 65 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (AFL. CIO) and a local of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers ( Ind, ) . The sessions began and closed with highlights : the address by the Rev. Ralph Abernathy: pastor of the First Baptist Church of Nlontgomery, Ala., whose home and church had been bombed because he was a leader of the bus boycott, and that by James P. Warburg (excerpted at length in our March issue). Speaking on "The Trial ot' Demociacy and the Decline of Colonialism," Rev. Abernathy appealed eloquently for support to the movement to register 2,000,000- more Negrbes as voters by 1960 and for strict Federal enforcement of fair employment practices on all work under Federal contract, especially because, with unemployment spreading, Negroes were being fired first and hired last. This was the only reference to the recession I heard at the Conference.

Foregoing the panel on Religion, State and Freedom,. I chose Sunday rnorning to attend the one on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, of which Algernon Black (Ethical Culture Society) was Moderator.

Panelists included Joseph Monserrat, director, N. Y. office, Migration Divisi.on, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, James L.. Hicks of the Amsturdam News, Cleveland Robinson of District 65, Morris Iushevitz of the City CIO Council and former Judge Dorothy Kenyon. I was tempted to say that_the problems should be discussed in the light of the current recession, but refrained from exercising my freedom of speech since I was present as an editor exercising his freedom of the press. Outwere Monserrat's linking of the issues with foreign policy, {anling !lac-k's challenging question of why we accept discrimination igainst the left and his wistful hope that we might again begin to talk about socialism, and lushevitz's unabaqhed statement that the fight against the left had started in the unions, that he had expected we wou-ld ull lose many of our rights in it but that- it had been a necessary struggle. . . . Although no legislative program emerged, the conference was constructive.

JEwrsn CunneNrs

Apnr., 1958 \

25

I

o Slulzr4eJwiru aI fliqhlq

February 9 On the way home late in the afternoon I unexpectedly lvalked in on the home of a neighbor to add my congratulationsto Sholem Levine, whose BOth birthday was being celebratedby the Washington Heights Cultural Club, of which we are both members. When in 1946 Levine's reminiscences,Untererdishe Kemier (Underground Fighters), were published I learned for the first time rvhat a courageousfighter against Tsarism this gentle senior citizen had been. At this house party $523 rvas raised for-the Mors,en Freiheit! Sholem and I made a date for me to be at his 90th birt[day party. Hope we can both keep it !

o fm Tllnniam on lla Ai^

e{iafonicalSocintrq

February l5-f6 The blizzard could not snow under the 56th Annual Meeting of the AJHS in Washington, D. C. although it did snowbind me in suburban Garrett Park, Md. and keep me from the Saturday evening session.

When I did make my way by Sunday noon to the new imposing B'nai B'rith Building I found fellow-historians from It Eastern, Southern and Western states listening to Henry J. Dubester, chief of the General Reference and Bi,bliographv Division of the Library of Congress, describing "Resources on Arnerican Jewish History" in that Library.

Then came Dr. Nathan Reingold's paper, "Resources in the National Archives." By this time I was almost ready to take my new book off the press and start all over again doing primary research in both collections for obviously there is still a vast treasury of source material that has not yet been iapped. But I resisted this perfectionist impulse lo strive for unattainable omniscience in American Jewish history.

The Library of Consress rnan, by the wa1,, indicated that the Special Union Catalog lists 35,000 items in Yiddish and 100,000 in Hebtew available in 35 cooperating libraries. Several nervcomers to the Society presented interesting papers, including one b1' Mrs. Meyer Greenberg about Isaac Pollock, who settled in Washin;5ton rn L795, and one by

26 lr't

o llb^acnu VoilIh jealinal Jilm we wenteagerlvto the cameoTheaterto seethe full-rJ;iiTi*

February 9 After dinner I was curious to seewhat FlorenceBeckerLennon'spo"tty program on WEVD (Eugene Victor Debs) would have on Race Relations Day. To our delieht it turned out to be Eve Merriam in a program of three Jewish"women,as Mrs. Lennon calleclit: Eve, Emrna Lazarus and herself. Eve Merriam read beautifully "The Words and Music of My Mother" which we so proudly.printed in lewish, Life, July, 1957, Mrs. Lennon read Emrna Lazarus' "Rosh Hashanah 56+3 [1882]," then Eve read a fine poem on the 90th Birthday of W. E. B. Du Bois (which we shall publish next month) and severalothers. Mrs. Lennon closed the refreshing half-hour with Langston Hughes's "l Too America." W'e promptly wrote Eve a fan-letter.

@ Amnnican!*iil,

Dr.. Joseph R. Rosenbloo_m, who shattered once more, but with new evidence, the rnyth that Rebecca Gratz. *o; th;prototype fo, R"b"t.u in Walter Scottis It,unhot:. Dr- I.uu" F;;k"iafou."a the hyporhesis that the Arnerican Jervish comntu,nity to American life "ont.ibut"a o",ly when it adhered uncompromisinglyt; i; ;*n cuhural values, 'aij"noi religious tradition and self-intlrest, u"fi yi"ra to rhe values of the general population. 1\4y chailenge of the u""'r.u"y of four of his seven supportins examples^ met rvith considerable - approval, although his hypoihesis irerits careful historical urulvrlr.

JewrsH CunnnNrs

?? the sixth viorld youth r'".1i""r'held lasi-r;;-;; in Moscow, which entertainedlavishly and rvarmly some 34,000 detejates from r31 coun. tries. I agreewith-the reviewer'i" th" Iv;;ir;i-"p"orr,I think, who felt envious and wanted to know why we do not huu" the next youth Festival in New York. The film -uh," -" ;i.;. -Voung,hoppy, grinning faces (the less you can say to peopreof-;th";r"rrgu;!".

-Eori"r, tfJ;?;^y"" grin at them), colorful costumls fio- the sever, of the ea'rth, and the fervor of peace and brotherho"J .t"t exuded from ;;;.y foot of film-they ali gave pe lift. There ,"u"ral ,.Jewishmo-a merts" in the pictureihe chief producer *u,"."."

M*t,ail slutskv, i,rr.",rb.urg was seen'for a flash unJ iti name of Samuei^M;;rh;"kt;;;""tioned. It would also have been .go.od."-r""-."r""iil;;--"[lut'tr," Israeli delegation.of 200, rvhoseartGtic p"rfo.-u".",- *o., many prizes and were praised at the time in the Soviet pr"rr.

o 4 SoilpI ,l/iddiah Aarond chaim suller having -issued presentedme with o'e of the three t*Tty.r1l of Yiddish folk-son{s June.26, LgSi,I-;;d it out 9n my wheezy Dynapf,one. sidi ral-;";e;;;;J;y D. Lerner at tho :11_1"*y prano, srngstwo songs on this disc, "Nohemke,, - ; i" una ,,shpiti Kl"r_ori m" (Musicians, . Pliy! ) . M ax. Ro. "nf JJ; knows about such reporrs_neithei is availabre a;";i;; l,hi"g:, records. This was therefore a welcome addition to my "; sm-all and I placed it alongside American album"oti""iion, oJ- Lt._col. Itsik .my_--t-wo-recorcl "J"*iFeffer recitinghis

Yiddishpogryrs, ng- Vij; ir A_ _.,IcL,r "Birobidianer " " herewhen {Biiobidjar ""a w"aa;"gi, produccd hevisiteius inr*:1"-. rgas.Thi' s;;'#Viaii.rrl""?;e o*",issued in an ecri-

tion, accordins to the record-jacket,of 4,00,000i nia say there is nJ market fo. yi.iJill, ir-,th" s;ri"t'u'io., t r,"", ,"^"i"ay ? And can three, or 30, records satisfy t'e need .ugq":j:g f., :g- t";g;; [.i"ii"gl Incidentallv, a well-know' producer iT yiaairfi toi*-ro.,g records here has just toid me that the u;";;;;-,.hit,, yiJJi.ir,*".a here sells 2,00a copies, while the best, ou". -irry years, ,""y-^r;ii l0,c)00!

M. U. S.

Apnrr,,1958

27

patunlt' (ottrutt PASSOYER A]IDYOURCHITD

By RUTH. ZALNIAN

can the Jewish child get II/HAT Y Y from the Passover holidav to enrich his life and show him the close ties Jewish history and cultural values have with ou. piogressive goals ?

First of all, there is the historical theme of Passover, the struggle against slavery. This is known, but overlooked is the fact that this struggle was aimed not only against Pharaoh, the overlord, but that it also became a struggle against those elements of the Hebrew people who preferred the "fleshpots of Egypt" to facing the insecurities and dangers that would inevitably be their lot in their long trek toward freedom.

This is something to remember in evaluating Jewish history all through the ages-that there always have been and still are forces among the Jewish people as is the case with every other people that try to hold back the movement toward progress, either through fear or because any change in the status quo would harm what they think is their own secure position. Not to be aware of this would be to fall into the trap of chauvinism, tending to fos. ter ideas of Jewish superiority over other. peoples, and hinder us from understanding why there are those both in Israel and among the Jews in the tl.S.A. who fail to see the necessity

'r

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for neutralism for Israel in the EastWest conflict.

Since 7943 Pcssooer has been enriched by another great heroismthe uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto.

To the desperate Jews making their last stand against the Nazis, Passover's fight for freemessage was real-the dom. In the living Haggadah of the Jewish people another chapter has been added to be read along with the ancient story to which it gives creative significance.

The Haggadah is introduced with the proclamation: "This year we are slaves, next year may we be free men."

How can we ourselves be free without striving to achieve freedom? How can we be assured that our {reedom will endure if there is anvone anvwhere in the world who is stiil enslauld? It Egypt it was not only the Hebrews who were enslaved and sought freedom.

The story of the E,xodus tells us that the Hebrews when they left the bondage of Egypt were joined by an "Eirev medley of other races and ft4y"-'6s depressed elements" who followed 'obeMoses' leadership. These later came absorbed in the Twelve Tribes" (see Cecil Roth, A Bird,'s Eye View ol Jewish History, Cincinnati, 1935, p.

6).

Jnwrsn CunnrNrs

of hospitality and of sharing one's bread with whoever is in need.

There are rnar)y picturesque stories and legends in the Haggadah, as well as references to historical events. One of the Rabbis mentioned was Akiba.

(It should be noted that Rabbi in those days meant something quite dif' ferent from what it does today. He was then a scholar and teacher, often with another means of earning a living-there was one who was a shoemaker and one even a coal-delivery lnan and his studies and teachings were followed without any remuneration. ) About Rabbi Akiba's youth there are romantic legends. In later years he was not only a great scholar and teacher, but also the spiritual leader in the last national revolt of the Jews against the Romans, about 130 C.E. Today orthodox Jews do not engage in any celebrations, and no re. ligious marriages are performed durirg the period of Sefirah (from the second day of Passover for 33 days) in ,memory of the students of Rabbi Akiba who suffered a terrible epidemic during that period. The Rornans had forbidden all Jewish studies, but an underground was formed and ltabbi Akiba taught his students in caves in the forests. When they becanre ill they died in great numbers because of their Around the obseraantce of Passover enforced hiding. The story goes that are customs based upon social and on Lag B'Omer (the thirty-third day) ethical concepts. In the old European the epidemic stopped. That day is also Jewish community there was a pre. remembered for the last desperately Passover campaign to' provide Matzos heroic, though unsuccessful, battle of for the poor (this donation was called Bar Kochba, the military leader of Mo-os Hitim) which probably was the the Revolt in 135 C.E. (The story forerunner of our Community Chesl of this last revolt and the role o{ drives today. This work expresses the Rabbi Akiba and Bar Kochba can be feeling of communal responsibility for found in "The Last National Revolt ol the welfare of all the members of the the Jews" by Emma Lazarus, in the community. The custom of bringing selection of her prose and poetry com' strangers to the Seder, of opening the piled by Morris U. Schappes. There is door at the beginning of the service also a poem titled "Bar Kochba" in (Elijah's Crp), represents the spirit this collection. See also Our People

Remembering that other people suffered in ancient tirnes as we did, we can point out sirnilarities in our history with that o{ other persecuted and minority groups throughout the years. So often children ask, "Why all this persecution? What is wrong with us that everyone hated us?" His. tory will show that others suffered and struggled as we did, though there were significant differences. The story of how a handful of American Indians tried to resist exile from their territory and fought an entire U.S. regiment in 1876 can be read in Howard Fast's The Last Frontier. An account of a small group of Armenians desperately resisting an artillery attack of the Turks is found in Forty Days ol Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel. These will show that we are not peculiar, but have the same problems as other groups with a minority status is a system in which the rights of minorities to group equality of opportunity and expression are not recognized and guaranteed.

But remembering the ''Eirev Rav':-the medley of peoples who chose, together with us, the road to freedom-we can see that freedom ior ourselves alone can never be attained;'we have to fight for it together with other minorities.

Apnu-. 1958

29

In Olden Days, From Saul to Bar Kochba, lry Ben Israel, Kinderbuch Publications, Box :188, Madisorr Sq. Station, N. Y. 10, $3.)

These etsents tie in with the uprising of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. As they read in their secret bunkers the slory of liberation in the Haggadah, the story of Akiba celebrating the Se. der services in secret-his students standing guard warned him of the break of duy, when he must return to hiding-the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto must have felt kinship with the old freedom fighters and continued their battle. And they vowed when "Pesach has .o-e to the ghetto again no more will the Jews to the slaughter be led."

(From "Pesach has Come to the Ghetto Again" by Binem Heller in "tewish Lit'e" Anthology.)

Anthropologically, Passover, like the other major Jewish holidays, is related to an ancient aericultural festivalthe spring Festir[l of E-Oster (Easter). After a hard winter, the earth renews itself. In the Bible, Passover is also refeired to as Has He-Avivthe. holiday of sprin-g. Fart of the spring crops were brought to the Temple as_ a holiday offeiing during Passover. M,any customs originated in the agricultural stage of the develop. ment of the Jewish people and were com'bined with historical events. It was natural then for Passover to be celebrated in the spring, for as the earth burst through the fetters of hard winter frost to bring forth its new green life, so the people had to break their bonds of oppression into a free life.

Later, in the old European Jewish homes, this symbolism was translated concretely by putting aside all the old every doy dishes and pots and pans

30

r[,

AnDEyEllrs rssuEs On this Passoaer, F estiual of Liberation April 5 to 12 GREETINGS to OUR READERS from THE EDITORIAL BOARD

and using only special ones for the Passover'. Some copper pots and silverware were even "made new" (or Kosh. er) by fiery cleansing with hot coals.

And of course the house went through a thorough spring cleaning. I remem'ber, as a child, Passover for me meant something new to near. That has come down to us today in the new spring o'outfits" and Easter bonnet!

The traditional Seder as part of the Passover home observance has undergone many changes. Basically it is the dramatization of the Passover story and subsequent historic events in th'e life of our people. It is therefore a continuing story rvith various interpretations. The best one I have seen is the Haggadah compiled and interpreted

by Max Rosenfeld and Bess Katz. which brings the story of the Jewish liberation up to date, including the fa.

'Warsaw mous song of the Ghetto up("Zog rising Nisht Kaynmol") and joins our struggles with those of other groups. This department, and I am sure Max Rosenfeld and Bess Katz, would be interested in learning your experiences with use of this Haggadah at a home Seder.

Jewrsn CunnnNrs

(Continttccl fron page 6) minated in the adventure with Britain and France in the attack on Sinai in October 1956.

Now the situation has grown even mo,re complex. Yemeu on March 8 federated itself with the United Arab Republic (Syria-Egypt) into the United Arab States. The Iraqi-Jordanian merger, undoubtedly accelerated by British and U.S.A. oil and cold-war machinations, is including in its constitution a clause forbidding trade with Israel. Eisenhower in a report to Congress declared the U.S.A. will continue to export arms to Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia ( Chicago Sentinel, March 13 ).

The Egyptian press continues to ur'ge Nasser to use his united armies to "save Palestine" (New York Times, March 16).

In such a situation, only a policy of neutralism by the Israeli government and a USA-USSR agreement to neutralize the Middle East ( including a ban on al'rns shipments ) can guarantee peace. Ahdut Avodah, one of the parties in the Israeli government coalition, at its national conference March 17 passed a reso'nonlution fon a foreign policy of identification" with any power blocs.

The conference also resolved to greet the Arab unification moves provided they are for peace with Israel, to reaffirm Israel's right to use the Suez Canal, to favor UN admission of Communist China. to end the miltarv Arnrl, 1958

restrictions imposed on Israeli Arabs.

Actir,e stmggle by Ahclut Avodah and all others in Israel that can rally to such a prograrn could bring about changes that would at last put Israel on the road that can lead to peace in the Middle East. And the Second Decade, like the world as a whole, needs peace above all.

POLISH JEWRY THE Jewish people, who proOF v portionately suffered greater losses than any other people in World War II ( six million, or onethird of the total world Jewish population ), Polish Jewry suffered most, about 90 per cent of Polish Jews being done to death by the Nazi murcler-machine. Yet Polish Jewry lives.

The key to its life is that it is organized. They k"y to the heroic Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was-orgarrization. In the first ye:rr in the Chetto under the Nazis, Jews endured undreamed of bestiality and died by the hundreds of thousands, sorne miserably and some in dignity to the last, yet too often without resisting the Nazis. Only when organization of the remnants and antiNazi unity were finally achieved, were pathos and tragedy transformed into the heroism that wrote a page in the history of World War II that can compare with any.

After the war, with only a few tens of thousands of Polish Jews sur-

31

viving, they organized themselves agairr, the religious in their congrcgations and the others in secular or.ganizations. A delegation representirrg the central organization visited the United States in lg46 and made a profound impression.

The organization of Polish ]ewry has evolved to meet changing situations. But whatever problems Polish Jews have faced, and they have been many and difficult and still continue to be so, the Jewish population has had the advantage of facing them through their central organizations as well as their local branches.

There has always been an organized leadership to rlpresent the iews in respect to their special needs, cultural, social or economic, and to speak in their behalf. Sometimes the leadership fumbled and made mistakes, as Hersh Smoliar, head of the Communal-Cultural Association of Polish Jews, pointed out in his article, "How Polish Jews Fight AntiSemitism," (Jewrsu CunnnNrs, Feb.. f958 ). But the organization and the leadership corrected these errors.

Recently, when opponents of Gomulka in the Polish Workers Party and in the government sought to institute a kind of quota system in Polish public life, Smoliar and his associates took an active part in the iCeological struggle that led to the rejection of the "national cadre" (quota ) pruposals. (In the recent rnunicipal elections in Poland, for instance, in Dzherzhoniov, seven jewish candi-

32 ll

dates appeared on the slate of the Front for People's UnitY, and all scvcn were elected.)

The Communal-Cultural Association, representing the 30,000 Jews in Poland, including the thousands of Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union, publishes the Folkshtimme four times a week with a circulation of 7,000. There is a Yiddish literary monthly and a historical quarterly.

There are seven Jewish schools, and each has a parents'association.There are more than 20 congregations affiliated with the Jewish Religious Association, The repatriates are being received warmly and given every organizational help. Aid was accepted from ORT ( Organization for Rehabilitation through Training ) to provide industrial education for the newcomers so that they can find their place in the Polish economy. Those who have felt it necessary to leave have done so, many for Israel.

Others may still leave. But those who remain forrn an organized jewish community. There, on new foundations, Iearning from the experience of the past, they seek to work out the problems of a Jewish community under socialism. The Jews of all the world are watching, and interested in, these experiences.

Ciae your local library a subscriptian to JEWISH

CURRENTS friwrsH Cunnnurs

FIYEPORTRAITS (Continued, t'rom page 2Lt experienced political leader. Calm and composed, personally very modest, a man of the people, and a comrade: one could detect in him an ironclad char' acter, a boundless devotion to the revo' lutionary movement.

'Later on, I found out that he had been imprisoned for 10 years in prewar Poland. Until the outbreak of the World War he had been confined for seven years in the horrible Polish-fas. cist prison in Rarvitsch. Once he es' caped from a prison hospital and broke a l"g. Since then he limps. I also learned that from 1920 he had been in the front lines of the Polish and Jewish revolutionary movement and was one of its leaders. Now he came to the Ghetto to conduct the fighting activities of the progressive forces which were numerous and strong in the Warsaw Ghetto. He had attained tremendous authority among his own comrades and even among his oppo. nents. They called him "O'ur Old Man." Many He became very friendly. times he spent the night in our house, and we would discuss our common problems of the fight until late at night.

Levartovsky and "legalized" We Schmidt as so-called clerks in the children's rescue institutions and that's where they lived. Many children's institutions at that time served as centers of the Jewish resistance movement.

Both Schmidt and Levartovsky played an outstanding and important role in the anti-fuscist bloc. Levartovsky was on the political leadership of the bloc and also on the editorial board of our joint underground newspaper, "The Call." Schmidt was appointed com. mander of the fighting organization of

Arnu., 1958

the bloc which, rvithin a few weeks, numbered about 500 fighters of various ideologies.

The bloc rapidly became an important communal force in the Ghetto.

This development strongly disturbed the Gestapo and its Jewish agents in the Ghetto. There began a series of murderous repressions against the active workers of the anti-fascist bloc.

After a couple of months of fiery, fev' erish anti-fascist activities, Andzhei Schmidt fell into the hands of the Gestapo. Together with him was an important progressive fighter ancl worker of the bloc, Meretik-Zimmerman.

Both were terriblv tortured bv the Nazi murderers, bui they did not break down and both of them were shot. joseph Levartovsky continued his revolutionary activities. He called for unity in struggle against the enemy.

He was on the alert in the anti-Nazi struggle until the advent of the terrible murder-actions. Together with hundreds o{ other fighters, he {ell into the bloody stream and met his martyrdeath in Treblinka.

Witnesses testified that even in the death car Joseph Levartovsky encouraged the Jews by calling out, "Remember that we are all of us going to the death-camp. Remember that we have to live with honor and die with honor."

The fight of Schmidt and Levartovsky was not in vain. Out of the antifascist bloc which they initiated and organized there grew the great and heroic united "Jewish Fighting Organization" which organized the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto and saved the honor of our people.

Andzhei Schmidt and Joseph Levartovsky will, like Emanuel Ringelblum, Mordecai Anielevitch, Yanush Kortchak and other great fighters and martyrs enter the Pantheon of Jewish historv.

88

One of the earliest prodtrctions was The Eternal lew, by David Pinskiand it brought Habirna to the attention of many Moscow theater-goers and cul' tural leaders. The theater was defended

by Maxim Gorki and Anatoli V. Luna' charskv" the Commissar for Culture. and Ben-Ari credits these two and 'omany Russian artists att4 cultural figures" for the "miracle that made possible the existence of the Habima gro,tp in Moscow in those daYs. . . ."

BooK RE,VTE,W (IF A THEATER BI(IGRAPHY Bv SAM PEVZNER" ITabirna, by

by A. H. word by Yoseloff, $5.00.

Raikin Ben-Ari, translated Gross and I. Soref; ForeHarold Clurrnan. Thomas Inc., New York. 253 pp.

rnHIS is the biography of one of the I rvorld's most famous theater ensembles, the Habima, before it moved to Palestine, now Israel. The Habima is no stranger to many Americans since it came to these shores twice in its historv. in 1926 and 1948. Raikin BenAri writes with the passion, familiarity and heartache that only a participant could feel. He was a member of the original Habima and reminisces with an actor's eye about the life of a group which above all was an actor's theater.

The founding father of Habima was Nahum Zema'ch, wl.ro organized a troupe at the beginning of World War I in Bialystok. The Habima in Moscow grew ou,t of the Bialystok seedling, and the time of its establishment is significant-l9l7, when Rus. sia was in the ferment of revolution. war, hunger and suffering.

The language of the millions of Jews in Russia was Yiddish, but Habirna produced plays exclusively in Hebrew. A mystic nationalism seems to have been the motivating force behind the dedication of the group to

34

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the Hebrew language, which was understood by few Jews in Russia. This fact brought much criticism upon the heads of Habima. Ben-Ari writes that the group "shared a single spirit, a single national idea;" but he is frank in asking "precisely what was this idea ? What were lve really after?"

These questions corne up again and again in discussions held by the group and never are they answered clearly.

The question came up in a more in a fundamental context-namely, situation where "All around us ferment ci{ a new way of. life rushed by.

New ideas were beinq made realities.

Jewish life was being: refashioned en. tirely. . . Only one tiny theater re. mained stubborn and insisted on pre' senting historical legends without any idea of what its mission really was.

And this in Moscow, at a time when the very air breathed the faith that the answer to life had been found" (p. 138).

Whateaer one thinks of the vasue and perhaps unreal mission of ihe group in a setting of revolutionary turbulence, enthusiasm and liberation. one must adrnire the dedication of the group to the building of a national Jewish theater of the hiqhest artistic level.

Jnwrsu CunnnNrs

Habima established itself as a theater of importance with its production of Bialik'i Hebrew translation of Th'e Dybbuk, by S. Ansky. It was directed

by Vachtangov" student of Stanislav' sky, and a giant of the Russian thea' tei. The book gives an excellent ac' count of the metf,ods used by Vachtan' gov, who is credited with molding LTabima into a first-rate and exciting theater group, ranking with the best in Russia. Stanislavsky himself took a keen interest in Habima and a{ter Vachtangov died, directed the, g_roup in Jacob's Dream, l:y Richard Beer' Hoffmann.

The success of Th'e Dybbalc did not solve all the problems faced bY Ha' bima. Even improved box-office re' ceipts did not leave enough to PaY to the actors, who were suffer' *ul"r ing- hunger and deprivation in those haid days for the Russian ,PeoPle. It was vital that the group become a State theater, with a State subsidy which would enable it to continue and its members to get some means.

It is interesting to note that in spite of the serious attacks on Ha' bima" in which it was criticized as Zionist, and a being nationalistic, "nesi of counter-revolution," the Coun' Commissars adopted a cil of People's resolution making Habima a State Theater. The certiftcate naming it such was signed by Lenin.

Arnn, 1958

The period ol Vachtangov and p-rep-' aration of The Dybbuh was the high point in the development of Habima.

Soon thereafter inner conflicts began to manifest themselves, especially in relation to the leading spirit of the group: Nahum Zemach, who found it diffi".,lt to work collectively with the committee, which he himself headed, formed to administer and lead Ha' bima. AIso it was difficult to find a play as rewarding and new from the artistic point of view as The Dybbuk. repertoire alwaYs The search for -plagued Habima.

Soon they discovered Leivick's dra' matic poem, The Golem. The Habima production of this play wag a huge iuccess and the spirit of the group rose again. producing Jacob's Dream and Aftei 'Shol"* "Aleichem's The Defilming luge, lhe group decided to go to Amer' ici. "Th; last time that the Habima actors sat together and shared in a creative, artistic experience" in Moscow was in the performance of a PlaY with the same title as the film men' tioned arbove, an American play by Berger-The Deluge. A European tour pre""ded the trip to the United States in 1926 and the experience of facing the bewildered Jewish people in the non-socialist countries, prompted Ben' Ari to make a point of criticism of Habima which h-ad been made often in the Soviet Union. Citing the {act that European Jewry "felt helpless and insecure." he writes that "The Ha' bima, though it pretended to be a so' cial iheat"t] did'little to discharge its obligation to thre confused Jewish -asses. Our plays did not deal even remotely with the modern social and economic Jewish problem." experienced a The Habima ut first real triumph in the United States. Its performance of The DYbbulc, in Par'

85

ticular, drew the praise of critics of the general press and Jewish leader. ship. It was something new in the

By FRANK CANTOR rnodern theater. M. Olgin, then editor of the Freiheit, called it a "wonder. ful artistic experience." But the popu.

I(ilometer 95, by Herbert Russcol larity of Habima on these shores was and Margalit Banai. Houghton Mif. -$+.00. short-lived. The Jewish people could flin Co., Boston. 335 pp. not warm up to a theater in a language The Virgin ol N o-fuIan's-Land,, bv which they could not understand: And Satty D. Kinarthy. Condor Bookj, the mysticism inherent in the content Tel Aviv. 259 pp. $3.50. of all the plays, plus the ,strange. ness of its modern stylism-led to a withering away of support and en. fftwo novels written by Israeli Jews, thusiasm for Habima. Thus, in the r Kilometer 95 by Herbert Russcol summer of L927 the Habima dis, and,Marga_lit Banai and The Virgin oJ banded. A minority of the group re. No-Man's-Land by Satty D. Kinirthv. rnained in the United States and the probe beneath the headlines with uuri. majority went to Palestine. There, in ing degrees of success for the human 'fel-Aviv, the Habima was recon. drarna taking place on the Israel-Arab structed. Today, Habima is the leading borders. theater of Israel, housed in a beauti.

Kilometer 95 tells a story of Israeli ful theater, produ,cing classical and settlers in the kibbutz Tel Shamir. on contemporary plays. Ben-Ari ends his the'Gaza strip. Arab raiders have been account with Habima's breakup in the attacking the kibbutz.

In response to United States. a new.s report in the Tel Aviv paper This history of Habima contains describing the settlers' plight and'nled much that is valuable for the serious for aid, Nachu_m,a formei Stern Gang student of the theater, and especially terrorist, decides -to go to the Negev for people working in the theater arts. ostensibly as a defender of the kibbitz.

Who today hasn't heard of the MethNachum appears to represent the au. od as taught by Actors' Studio? The lltopl concept of Israelb contemporary Method refers to the Stanislavskv svs- "rebel without a cause." Thev write: tem of acting-and Ben-Ari gives a iu.

"His existence, now so aimless, so dead, cid account of the development of the rvould again take on direction "nd various schools of actins as it rvas purpose. ^--Li-fu dorvn in the Negev "Habima reflected in the work of seemed filled with danger, the ever and othei groups in the Soviet Union at present danger of sudden, violent the time. death. Far better than the living death in his cage at the post office.x But most interesting of all for all At Tel Shamir, Nachum meets Ta. readers is the story of how a small mar, the beautiful kibbutznik whom group of originally non-professional he had once intercepted when she was actors by dint of a pure love of thea. a Haganah coulier.- In the course of ter, of readiness to sacrifice and of their conflict over the manner of the willingness under the greatest of diffi. kibbutz's defense and Israel's survival. culties to strive for the highest in the- Nachum and Tarnar find, of course, atrical creativity became one of the that they love each other.

Their love rnost significant theaters of its time. provides the authors with a symbol

for Israelis divided against each other yet united in their attempts to find a personal and social solution for their own and their nation's plight.

In the kibbutzniks' eftoris to cultivate the land and defend themselves against attack, the authors create a kind of microcosm of Israel as they see it today-full of old pioneers and new arrivals, each with his own ideas of Israel's solution of her problems.

Nachum believes in attack, Tamar in a ^peaceful soll{ion under the auspices of the United Nations. Professor Horst Neumann, father of the slain kibbutznik Joel, is motivated to attempt a revival of the old "dream" of Ihud (Jew. ish-Arab friendship).

An American Captain, G_e_o1ge Wakefield, on duty with the United Nations forces, i; drawn into the conflict bv a buried land-mine, his sense of compassion and moral values and his fascination for another beautiful kibbutznik, Rachel.

And on the Arab side. the authors give us rather partisan portraits of ?is. placed Arabs resorting to acts of violence and terrorism to regain the land from which they had been driven when Israel was born.

Written in a swiftly-moving fashion, as though it was disigned "primarily for an American audi-ence bf sHckmagazine readers, Kilometer gS succeeds in_catching Israeli people, places and problems in a free-wheeling, ror,i.g yet erratic light. More than a parable but scarcely a work of art, the novel illuminates the headlines and, for this reader at any rate. translates Israel-Arab conflicts into more identifiable human terms. It is weakened by the authors' insistence that characters conform to the author's conception of what they shoutd be and do, and by combinations of melodramatic incidents and contrived loves and conflicts. Though not without feeling for ' the plight of Arab refugees whJ live

36

Arnrl,

TWOISRAEL]IOYELS

l1 I

JnwrsH CunnrNrs

1958

on pittances in thre Gaza strip, the !Nnovel fails to create any Arab "hu.""ters who are anything more than terrorists today,,no matter what they may once have been. Consequentiy, it -gripsscarcely seems to come to with typical problems of Israel-Arab survival, for all that it appears to have this question as its laiger concern.

--reader.

Its best moments, for this came in the random sketches which portrayed secondary Israeli characters in credible fashion. Certainly the mate. rial of the novel is the living stuff of contemporary Israel, even ihoueh it does not quite succeed in comiig to Iife.

(Continued on page M)

MANISCHEWITZ matZ0s choice ortherin. lJ;r}-#fiii't a l l t r e s h l yb a k e df o r ra ss0ver!

T H E8 , M A I { I S C H E WCI T OZ, N , E W A RN X,,' .

87

CASE DREYFIJS T]|E FI[l|O1I| ANEtl|| BV DAVID PLATT

ITIHE theme of the important new t MGM film "I Accuse," shot in England and directed and acted bY Jose Ferrer, is the political frameup of Alfred Dreyfus and the victorious fight for his vindication. The screen. play by Gore Vidal was adapted from Halasz's recent excellent Nicholas study, Captain Dreylus (reviewed in Jewish Life, Dec. 1955; the book is now available as a palper book: Grove Press, N. Y., $1.45).

Ferrero in addition to doing a good job of directing, also contributes an acting perf ormince of considerable His merii in the role of Dreyfus.

Dreyfus is a proud, dignified,- loYal Jewish officer ittached to the French General Staff who, despite his blind and unquestioning faith jn the army and its iop btass, is made the scaPe' goat in' a clerico-military plot.to. over' ihronu the Republic by associating it with Jews and treason.

The acting o{ the other members of the cast (-mostly British) is also of Outstanding is a very high otd"t.

Herbeit Lom as the cra{tY Marquis Du Paty, a hollow shell of a man who, as- a mainstay of French Intelli' gence, concocted ttbt u few of the for' leries and perjuries- that convicted breyfus. The poiished thug and traitor Esterhazy, for whose crimes Dreyfus was dishonored, is admirablY Por' Ester' traved bv Anton Walbrook. haiv" at ihe verY moment that he was being hailed in the anti-semitic press for his "patriotism" was in letters'to his mistress denouncing his country, his army, his superiors. "How I should

38

I

like to be at the head of a companY of Uhlans sabering the French,; he wrote. "What a beautiful orgy that would be in a Paris conquered again."

The film contains many moving passases with Viveca Lindfors and David Fa"rrar as Dreyfus' wife and brother' in-law who,,believing wholeheartedly in his innocence, worked tirelessly for his exoneration and rehabilitation.

Ernlyn Williams is somewhat disap' pointing as ZoLa. Part of the disap. pointment could be the ridiculous shortness of the role. Tnla's monumental work in behalf of Dreyfus can. not and should not be restricted to a few scenes. is shown in the film to be Drqlus a principled and courageous man who unhesitatingly rejects an offer to con. fess and thus possibly win a lighter sentence. "l cannot confess to what I did not do," is his. forthright an' swer.

As the film reminds us, he was con' victed largely on the perjured words of an officer who swore at the trial that "an honorable person" whose name he was not required to divulge had told him that Dreyful was a traitor. Though the real criminal, Esterhazy, was known to be the Paid -sPY_ almost immediately after Dreyfus had been sentenced to a living death, it was twelve years before Dreyfus was offi' cially cleared.

During those twelve years France was brought almost to the verge o{ civil war, with the advocates of truth and reason led bv men like Zola'

Jnwrsu CunnBwrs

Jaures, Clemenceau, Reinach, Lazare lifetime of the frameup victim because and other leading radical Republicans, a tiny minority of courageous men socialists and Jews on one side, and tho fought on even when the odds were Jesuit-trained generals, monarchists, overwhelmingly against them. professional anti-Semites and their Seeing "I Accuse" will remind many legions of misguided follorvers on the of the brutality that snuffed out tlfe other. The great lesson of the Drey. lives of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg fus case is that in the end, when the and of the necessity of continuing the chief perpetrators of the frameup had fight to vindicate their honor and to been thoroughly exposed and driven free Morton Sobell. from public life, the Dreyfusards became the new government of France.

Moreover, socialism began making strides. ln M em or y It is regrettable that the fihn con. tains virtually nothing of the great debates and demonstrations that shook France from one end to the other and inspired the world-wide move. ment for the freedom of Dreyfus, in. cluding protests from such U.S. notables as Mark Twain, William James.

William Dean Howells, Peter Finley Dunne and such magazines and news. papers as the Menorah tournal, Harper's Weekly and the New York Euening Sun. Though "I Accuse" lacks the mag. nificent- sweep and dramatic impact of the_lengthy Dreyfus episode in the 1937 Warner Bros. frlm-Lile of Zoln with Paul Muni, it does not.'as its predecessor did, evade the issue of anti-Semitism. One of the chief architects of the frameup against Dreyfus is shown in the MGM fil-m to be Edouard Drumont, publisher of the scurri. lous anti-Semitic sheet Le Libre Parole, and Emile Zola's fiery "J'Accuse" from which the film takes its title, is flashed on the screen with its pas. sionate indictment of the anti-semites in the French War Office intact. There are other scenes too in which the Jewish question is squarely faced.

The Dreyfus case is a classic ex. nrnple of a political frameup that was leversed by public opinion within the

Annrl, 1958

o{

5. l. KOZINITZ aulhorof BEIDERDVINA d i e d M a r c h2 3 , 1 9 5 6 Lillian Kozinitz & Familv

I N L O V I N GM E M O R YO F

ESTHER D I E D O C T O B E RI 9 , I 9 5 7 MARK ROSENBERG

Correction Through an oversight, we failed to indicate that the translation of the song: o'Hop Go the Purim Cakes," in our March issue was by Teddi Schwartz and Arthur Kevess.

The song is from their book, Tumbalalaika, containing 17 songs translated into singable English. The book may be ordered for 75 cents from The Alliance, One Jewish Music Union Square West, N. Y. 3.

39

Eet f ffip$ FROM

READERS

. oprinions expressed,in letters are not necessarily those of the maga, zine. Letters uill not.be published .unresso""o*'ponied, by ti" il,*" and,add,ress_of the wri.ter.-Nameswiil be withheld,'i;r; p;ki"i;oi on request.-Eds. All-sided

Inlormation

Dear Editors: I am enclosing additional sum of $10 for sustaining fund together with my renewal. I hope you cin continue giving all-sided information.

I was particularly pleased to win a bet with my wife on the Cairo Conference. I refused to believe that such a conference would be held without one remark about Israel being made, as the reports here and in the [Vational Guard,. iaz would have you believe (if onlv by omission-a cardinal sin). Yori repo_rt_at least was not guilty.

With hope for continuing honesty,

Toronto,Anturio,Feb. L0.

J. G.

[In fairness to the National Guardian it should be pointed out that in its issue of Feb. I0 there was an ar. ticle by Cedric Belfrage, "Cairo Con. ference Highlighted Aiab-Israeli Rela. tions."-*Ed.] Co'aer Too Funereal?

Dear Editors: I do not like the box in black. for the name. It looks like a box for a gesturbenemfdeceasedone].

S. D. The Bronx, Feb. 12.

rI

40

About

a Jewish

School

Dear Editors: _ I was very much interested in the letter by Edith R. Davis of Minnea. poli.s [J1, issue]. Our experiences may be helpful.

As parents, we have been tremen. dously concerned with the problem of helping our children achi&e healthv attitudes of Jewish identification. tt first became necessary for us to clarify 'would for ourselves what constitutl such an identification. We wanted our children to understand the cultural heritage of the Jewish Feople and their positive and lasting contribution to the progress of civiliza'tion. Nor did we want this concept presented in a chauvinistic fashion buf rather in con_ text with other wonderful cultures of the world. We want our children to understand that their background, while it is in some ways differeit, is in many basic ways the same as other people's. It was also important to us to separate the contempbrarv religious practices of the Jewish people from their historical aspects.' $y" wanted a completely .""ulu, experi. . ence for the children.

We felt also that, while a good deal of this can be learned at "home on a. family level, it was necessary for our children to be with a healthy social

i-{r'oul)if our purpose of cultural iden. tilication was to be realized. l"or tlrt:se reasolrs, our children attt:nrl a srrrail, irrdependent cooperative "sllulc" in which we are trying to rrreet sonle of the needs. There are 2l-i children from six to 1l years ol age. Their parents are all American lrorrr. They live in a mixed, lower rniddle class neishrborhood in The llronx and have nin-Jewish as well as .fr:rvishfriends. 'l'he children meet once a week for irrr hour.

Th"y are grouped according to age. Our groups aie small and ()ur teacher devoted and kind. The children really enjoy the experience, arrd this is of primary impoitance to alry educational project. They have learned, in a secular way, the meaning of the important holidays. We have had . Hanukah parties, Purim parties. a ,"third _seder," 6 Succoth party and others. In connection witti eabh of these, the children have learned the historical background of the holiday, some -songs and stories, and have pre. sented some sort of skit or piuy.

In each case the material is presented in historical context.

As d '.rhrle', group: these holiday celebrations are not shared with non-Jewish friends of the child_ren, although individually sonre children may do so. 'l'he one hour a week includes some lristory., story telling, singing and the \ irltlish language. Occaslonilly there is ir tie-up with .current events. More ,'llr.rr there is a tie-up with American Iristory, which the children are study. irrg irr theirpublic schools. Their srudy ,,I r'ccent Jewish history brings th; t'hiklren into a better relationshfu with llrr,ir igrandparents. The'childreri's unrltrslarrtling and knowledge attests to tlrt. tr:acher's outstanding ubilities; of tlris there is no doubt. A less tal. crrtr.rl teacher and a less understand. irrg one would not Jreable to give them Aluu,.

Jewrsu CunnrNr

1958

so much that is worthwhile under these circumstances.

One outgrowth of the children's continued interest has been parent interest. At monthly parent meetings (not always well attended) we have tried to parallel some of the material that the children are learning. Also some mothers with special skiils con. tribute time to hold an occasional sins. ing session, special crafts session, ; dramatics workshop rvith the children (usually in connection with their holiday presentations).

All of this is to the good. How. ever, there are many pro6lems. There are no facilities for modern educa. tional methods of teaching. The .oclass16e6"-someone's bright airy- base. ment-lacks bulletin 6oards, display case, library facilities.

It is almost primitive. One hour a week is scarcelv "enough" time. Then there is the tei. rible gap_in parent background which, combined with the time lapse between sessions, makes it seem aimost futile to expect this experience to be accepted in the spirit in- which it is interried.

And of course, the rvhole question of teaching a language under- these cir. cumstances-and the whole problem of the extent to which the language should be taught-has not heerr .ItuJj.

NOTICE TO_ E O B M E R M E M B E RO SF THE

lwo C E M E T E R Y DEPARTMENT

In.case of.death in the family, pleasc brino wtln you the deed of the grave plot puri chase.d.from ihe -Cemetery d"puiiri.-ni. -W'" wrr.?are care of everyihing wilh the leart trouble to you.

l. J. MORRIS,Inc. 9701 ChurchAve., Brooklyn Tel.; Dl 2-1273 In Hempstead, L. 1., Tel. is lV 5-2500 Chapelr .in every part of the city

4t

None of these children hear Yiddish spoken at home. This alone warrants extended discussion.

Certainly all of American Jewry is undergoing a profound evaluation of its position on the current American scene. We parents are vitally concerned with this. Our small group all the limitadoes feel that-within tions of time, space, and moneyour children are enjoying a positive experience. However, we have established this group purely on the basis of the common denominators of 1) a secular approach, 2.) a healthy .u"q huppy group experience and 3 ) the learning of sorne rudimentary Jewish language, culture and history. What is lacking is a perspective and an expressed understanding of the direction we hope to take. How long a little "shule" can continue to function with so many practical odds against it and without a basic philosophy to strengthen it is a serious question.

S. S. The Bronx. Feb. L4.

Best

Aaailable

Data

Dear Editors: I found the tables of figures in your Feb. issue about differentials in wages and school expenditures as between North and South and between Negro and white pupils very interesting. But I did notice that while the figures on the wage differential were as of June, 1957 those entitled 'qCurrent Expenditures per pupil in White and Negro Schools in the South" were datedL952.

Is that nice ?

A. L. H. New Hyde Park, lV. Y., Feb. 15. lA check in several libraries specializing in statistics of the Negro people indicates that the 1952 figures are the very latest yet available.-Ed.]

iL

42

More

on USSR

l)ear Editors: I think my sub is about to run out.

Kindly renew.

How about an article on "Jews in the Soviet Union Today"? There seems to be much confusion on this topic.

M. B. Bethayres, Po., Feb. 16.

Stamps Dear Editors: Congratulationson the fine job of "new" magazine,Jrwrsn Cunnpnrs.

Please send me some "Philatelic Phans" stamps as offered in Editor's Diary, Feb. '58.

P. K. Elshrore, Calif., Feb. L7.

From a Centenarian Dear Editors: For some time I have (by the grace of a friend) read Jewish.Lit'e. I liked it then and now, mutatis nominae, to JrwIsn CunncNrs (which I like much better) and has a new Editor, I think it is my moral obligation to congratu. late the magazine and wish it success and to go frorn strength to strength as it so richly deserves.

And speaking oI merit, I wish tt give a hand to the Editor's finely anaiytical "Issues and Events" l atrd many nrore hands to his ".f)iary." It is in the lrest reportorial style and good Iing. lish.

Pleasant to my sight was the notice (or letter) by my new-found friend, the incomparable artist'genius, Lion Feuchtwanger, whose latest book Yethro,I just read. But L. F.'s Raqel, subtitled, "The Jewess of Toledo," reaches the apogee of historic novel. writing in the most romantic land in Europe, Spain.

May I suggest that there is hardlY a jew in the world entire who does not shiver at the mention of the Nazis and the cruel monster, Hitler. Jews can never forget the three H's: Hadri' an, Haman and the vilest of all, Hitler. It is mistaken courtesy to sugas it is. gest that compâ&#x201A;Źnsation-little could be forgiven, or a fact obliterated by saying the kindly word.

In conclusion, let me say to Edith ll. Davis in Minneapolis, Minn.: teach

of ihe

NEW YORK MANDOLIN S Y M P H O N YO R C H E S T R A 5AT. EVE.A , P R I L l 2 + h , 8 : 3 0P . M . in TOWN HALL, il3-23 W. 43rdSt.,N.Y. Soloist:JanicePearl, Meiropolitan Opera. Soprano Samuel Firstman, Cond uctor The orchestra will do a program of Classicoland Folk Music

Jrrwrsn Cunnnr.i'rs

Getting N ew Sub Dear Editorsz Enclosed is a $4.00 check for: 1) a new sub to begin lvith the March issue.

It's for a friend who stops in every Saturday on his rvay to Shul. Today he was late, so I suggested that since he was too late for "Aufruf," I would "call him" for a good cause. QED -a new sub! 2) my sustainer of $1.00 for March.

E. G.

FORYOUR PARTY OR

C T ' L T U R A LE V E N I N G * Now available for a full evening's

34th Annuql Concert

your children Antltoponomy, the law governing the interrelation between man and man and all 'that concerns him. The principle <-rf this law isKindness so graciously extended, that the giver feels as if the needy does him a favor accepting it.

Dn. AuorpuB DE Cesrno F'ormer American Consul in Madrid.

P.S. You will pardon this tyPing which in the absence o{ my typist, I do myself I am ashamed to confess, since I have only eight months to reach my l00th birthday. Adieu.

L o s A n g e l e s ,F e b . 2 2 .

Pro9rdm

JEWISHMUSIC RECORDED AND DRAMA, WITH COMMENTARY by

DAVID PLATT A N D H I S P O R T A B LH EI-FI

* For

Engagements:

JEWISHCURRENTS 22 East 17 Street, Room 601 New York 3. N" Y. Tel. WA 4-5740

\r,rur,.1958

New York, Feb. 22.

Nlore About lsrael Dear Editors: Yes, you are right. It was an over' sight on my part not to renew my su'b' scription. I enclose a renewal.

As for the magazine itself, I would like to see more articles on Israel, especially now since the fornration of the Arab bloc. I rvould like to see more about Israel without any excuses by our so-called progressives.

Surelv. Israel is ttot rvithout faults.

She rnade stupid rtristatkesarrcl is still making them. But slte has a right to live. Our so-calletl progressives are always so sorry I'ot' the poor Arabs that they forgot wltat we Jews went through only a ferv l ears ago.

43

Their hearts go out for everybody excep-t l'or the Jews. At best they say ii was Stalin's fault. tnagazine is a must lor every _,_,I:yt tnrnklng person and you enlighten us more clearly on the present lituation tnan anybody else. Good luck !

acter who murnlurs o.There, beyond Iand, Iies wastedimpenetiable lo;m.an'p_ infinity,"- but when the autlior insists ypol rnaking rhis the leitmotif of his frook you can hardly criticize the reader for not feeling very ^u"i, like reading. Particulaily *h"r, *i. nna of .philosophizing i, int"rla.J"J with W'a.sh,ington -'wrll-she H eigh,ts, N. y ., r or won,t_sher,,and a search "{.'rI-.' for romantic love wiih a will-o,-the, wisp lost in no-man's-land. page . Mr. .Kinarrhy tells us in his frontis.

37) -(Continuedfrom Whil"e o,Kilom.it", gS,7 if on the plece, "l'he actual situation in Jerusa_ whole,a readablenovel, it ll d"iin"un lem js unique in history. It w;H be raughed at as fantastic if it came ,f,::,v up lh" :uq"^ for The trrirgini1 Uo- in fiction." Mr. tvlan's-Land.

After an extraordinarily "Kinarthy, "uiJ""tli, fascinating few opening tantaliic,'Uu, lras a sensefor the ,n, tfr"t fortunately seems s.eem_ "fr"pi"r.' far to promise we will see from [Lins Israel and [o ..actual drarnatizethe "lfu t\. Middle East f.o-- if," li"*o"i* situatioir', he of a young Syrian Jewishgi.f, th"'bool. refers to. Here, _too, ho*"u"., thero are glimpses of characterswho -romu oogs dolvn in an live_ of sopho- o-r rather ,inept w_elter characterizationsthat philosophizing, -in dull nur.uiirr", .

-T:tig mystrcism, and talk; talk, talk ubo,ri alive. There muit be writerr t"r"rt y;;1"" nlrary today who are trying to *.it"-honest and '";. l:f:,"_"rlnity and moving_books ihat wif-be.ome cntrcrze an author for creating a chai pa.rt of an Israeli literature. Bit The Virgin of No-Man,s-Land ao".-rio* The Third Seder Celebration up. pear to be such a book. of the School{or

AT HOME

TWo|SRAEU lfovEts

A congressionnl -delegation resolution calling appointed by the lor- u President to represent the - U'5' at Israel's l0th Anniversary celebration *u, ir,ttoduced Jan. 16 by Sen' Jacob Juuit" (R'NY) and Rep' EmanuelCeli"t (D:NY). The resblution errs in a.ssertinsthe U.S. was the first to ,""onrrii" Israel: the U.S. was the first de lacto (virtual) recgg^lil to ""*t"ttd was not until Jan' 3I, 1949 it tion but that full de iure recognitioncame'

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A SUSTAINER contributes from $1.00 to the sky's-the-limitevefy month. START NO"$ft JEWISH CURRENTS 22 E. 17 St., New york 3 Here .is $ a s m y f i r s t m o n"t "h' l y c o n f r i b u t i o na s a s u s i a i n e r : Name ..

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I I

I

neither Orthodox nor well-educated in Jewish culture. of the Yugoslav gov' In the attemPt Andrija Artuko' extradite to ernment vich to stand trial on charges of mur' derins I,293 people as fascist rninister of th! interior in Croatia, l94l'l9l'4, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Jan' 20 that the iase go back to the Dis' trict Court in Southern California {or re-trial, thus reversing the lowe-r court decisions denying extiadition'- Justices W. O. Douglas ind Hugo Black dis' government sented. The Yugoslav claims to have a mountain of evidence not onlY master' that Artukovich minded racist, anti-Semitic legislation but was directly involved in the mur' der of Jews, Serbs, GYPsies and Croa' tians. Among the victims were 48 rab' bis and cantors.

Distinction's were woit' by Jews in several fields. Of the ten electedto the National Institute o{ Arts and Letters Feb. 10, six were Jews: Arthur Miller, dramatist, S. J. Perelman, humorist, Babette beutsch, Poet, Saul Bellow' novelist and Abriham Rattner and Robert Raphael SoYer Painters.

Fischer of tiroolilyn becameU'S' chess champion Jan. 7. If he can PaY his *uy to Yugoslavia 1n peptentber he will''bid for lhe world title. ' ' ' O{ a0 high school students-winning posi' tions in the Westinghouse Science Talent Contest,nine were Jews,includ' ine Aaron Kripka of Omaha and SYbil HJrshkopf of ihe Ramaz Hig\ School" a New York Jewish parochial school'

Chicagoans Amo'ng 6I Prorninent who asked all Chicago area congress' men to vote for aboliiion of the House Committee on Un'American Activities were iewish communal and other pub' lic fiqures such as Rabbi Jacob Wein' steini David Riesman, Hans Lehman' Jucot Scher, Rev. George 9' Fox, Sentinel t:olumnist, Rab'bi S' Burr Yampol. Jules A. Marcus, Rohert Eis' ner"'Leottarcl 1,. l,eotr trtrd lllrner R'

-New Parochial schools Iewish all daY "(veshiuas) York now have :esal. in ABROAD ,,ver 100,'000pupils, about one'fourth 17 to five age ,,f the Jewish-ch-ildren scit'rrListspetitioning in the city. Most of the parents send- Of the. 9,OU) bomb testing rrrrr'lcar ltalt tt-r UN th; are schools irrg children to these ArRtL, 1958

45

l

a significarrt number was Jewish, including 25 from the Haifa Technicum.

Among the No'bel Prize winners there was Max'Born, Germany, Hans Krebs, England, Tadeus Reichstein, Sn,itzerland and joseph Erlanger and Otto Loewi" USA. In Paris, Bernard Alpert was ar. rested late Feb. for refusing to submit to conscription because he would not serve in a French army that mieht be commanded by Generui Hutrr Si"ldel of NATO. Alpert's father, killed in M-aidanek, was airested Aug. 20, L94L when- Speidel b:aded the Nizi occupation {crces in France.

The Romaniun Zeitschrift of Oct. I, 1957, Yiddish organ of the religious Jews, contains an open letter lrom Rabbi Zvi Gutman of Bucharest to Rabbi David B. Hollander of The Bronx, who headed the US Rabbinical delegation visiting Romania last summer. Rabbi Gutman points out that the Bishop Valerian of the Romanian Orthodox Church who attended a banquet arranged by Gov. G. Mennen Williams of Michigan is none other than Viarel Trifa, leider of the Fascist Iron Guard and an officer in the Nazi Army.

Trifa, Rabbi Gutman charges, was responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of Jews Jan. 2I-23, 194L, among them his own two sons, Jacob and {oqeph. Rabbi Gutman appeals to Rabbi Hollander to lead a movement to drive this murderous bishop out of religious life. Rabbi Holland-er is in Australia, unavailable for comment.

London Friend,s ol Yiddish Jan. 26 sent a resolution to the Israel Ambassador calling on his government o'to do its utmoJt to recogni"zeYiddish as the second language of the people ^u. of Israel, and not to look upot it an alien tongue."

46 l

r! t

$rI L..

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the chorus of the Jewish People's. Institute for Culture and Education had its fifth annual concert in Jan. in the Municipal Theater, 1,500 attending. The two-hour program was broadcast by the Education Department station and received excellent notices. The num, bers included Yiddish and Brazilian folk songs, Handel's Samson in Yiddish translation, and the Cantata by Vladimir Heifetz of New York on Itsik Feffer's famous poem, "Ich Bin a Yid" (I Am a Jerv).

Warsaw Jews commemorated the 1Oth anniversarv of the mvsterious death Jan. 13, L948 of Solomon Mi. choels, director of the Moscow Yid. dish State Theater. at a memorial meeting in its Yiddish State Theater.

Hersh Smoliar, head of the Cultural.

Communal Association of Polish Jews, pointed out that "rve cannot even console ourselves with the usual reflection 'His that work lives on!' No, his work, his child, his theater is sone. How often we think, i{ only Mictoeh were alive ! How his voice would ring out in answer to those who seek with their talk about integration, assimilation and so on to deny our right, which we won on the barri'cades of October . . . our right to increase the treasures of our people, our right to grow so that from our midst new Michoelses may arise. , . ."

In Leningrad Jan. 18-26, Jewish programs were given by Nehama Lipshitz, tenor, and Mark Broide, formerly of the Moscow Yiddish State Theater. At the last performance audien,ce representatives congratulated the artists and requested the Ministry of Culture for a return engagement of at least ten concerts at Passover-time.'

DO WE RELAXTHIS SUMMER AN IRREPARABLE OR SUFFER LOSS? You have now read four issuesof the new JewrsH CuRREtcrs.It has receivedmany plaudits-few knocks. Now we ap,pealto you: If Jrwrsn Cunnnurs is to stay alive it must have at least $5r00O.O0 by June l, 1958. Otherwise,the summer doldrums may choke our magazine to death. That is why we now launch our SPRING FUND DRIVE.

Our Appeal to You, deqr Reqder3Can you (All readersand friends should) make as large a contribution as your means permit-at once?

2, Can you run a houseparty with your friends for Jnwtsn Cunnrurs?

3. Can you get your friends to run house parties? A string of house parties acrossthe land can make lhe magazinesecure. l.

An Appeol To All Orgonizqtions: l.

2" 3.

4.

Can you take up the Jswrsn Cunneurs campaign for $5,000.00 by June 1 with the leadership of your organization, officially or unofficially? Can you organize a campaign with a set goal and activities to achieve it?

Can you organize parties and affairs for Jslvlsn CunnnNrs? Can you solicit individual contributions from rnembers and friends?

This is a key source of funds.

Call upon JnwIsu Cunnnxrs for speakers, icleas and cooperation.

To Both Reqders qnd Orgonizqtions: Please act promptly and turn funds in inrnrt:tliutt:ly.Otherrvise"the magazine will be in grave danger this suttrtttr:t'.Wt: itt'e r:ottfitlertt you can r a i s e t h e n e c e s s a r y$ 5 , 0 0 0 . 0 0 b y J u n e l . W l l , l , Y O t l ( l l l ' l " l ' 0 W O R K ?

SPRING FUND DRIVE!

by June l. | 958!

RAISE$5,000.00

M. U. S. Jnwrsn CunneNrs

Annu,, 1958

47

"Neyer to Forgef - ltlever to Forgiye!"

The deqfftless csll of ffte Heroic Fighfers in fhe Worsow Gheffo Uprising

RALLY

TO COMMEMORATE fhe | 5rh ANNMRSARY Of the Worsqw Ghetto Uprising

S U N D A Y A FTE R N OON , A P R IL 20, 1958, I p. m .

MANHATTAN CENTER, 34ih Sf. qnd glh Ave., New York IMPRESSIVE COLORFUL PROGRAM Jeutish Peo.ple'sChorus Memori,zl Prayer by the eni;inentcantor LABELE V/ALDMAN Outstand,ingActors (Englisb and Yid,d,ish) PnoutNrNt Spraxrns For Tickets: Com.mitteeto Commemoratel5th Anniuersary of Warsatu Ghetto Uprising, | 133 Broadway,Room 732, New York

Speeio,l Trilo,l Subscription

WA 9-2498

CURRENTS St., Room 601

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rssue s for $l 00

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( V al u e $ | . 4 0) F u l l Y e a r S u b s c r i p t i o n. . . $ 3 . 0 0

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